The Scholarship that Changed my Life
by The Ordinary Calligrapher
Summary: Human!AU. Kiku Honda is ready to progress to an important stage of life. College. However, when you have to share a dorm with some wacky...er..I mean...interesting people, Kiku's monotonous life might just get a slap in the face. AmeriPan. Rated T just to be safe. I do not own Axis Powers Hetalia, its characters or the cover image.
1. Chapter 1

The Scholarship That Changed My Life

Kiku Honda stared out of the windshield of his car, not concerned with the traffic. He hit his brakes at a red light, and exhaled, trying to push out all the awkwardness he was feeling. He liked red lights. They gave him an opportunity to slow down, and rethink the day. He tried organizing the events in his life over the past few months in simple terms. School. Exams. Study. Study. Study. Pass. Graduate. Honors. Scholarship. College. Dorm. Strangers.

Ever since he was in preschool, it became evident to teachers and students that Kiku was the type who didn't speak unless spoken to. But he didn't want people to think of him as a reserved weirdo who didn't care about having a social life. He tried opening up. But every time he did it, it was so stressful and awkward for him that it actually began ill effects on his health. He kept going at it, and before he knew it, he was in high school. High school for his family was everything. If he messed up, he could kiss a future goodbye. So, he decided to let the whole 'friendliness' thing be, and put all his time and effort in studies. This relentless pursuit of success got him onto the path he was driving on at the moment, and he wondered if it was where he wanted to go.

Kiku checked the directions on his GPS again. He was in a neighborhood he wasn't remotely aware of, and wanted to go there as quickly as possible.

The grass, trees and stones on his left and right melted to form a large mass that he sped by in his old clunker of a car. After driving for what seemed like hours, Kiku spotted the large wooden sign proudly displaying the name of the somewhat prestigious institution. He smiled to himself softly. At least he hadn't gotten lost. Once he got his luggage inspected by security, he gently pulled into the massive campus. No, really massive. It was like a city on its own. Students from different parts of the world mingled together as though they'd known each their whole lives. He was going to stay in this city for the next four years. Unbelievable.

According to the prospectus, a whole section of the campus was dedicated to student residences, both public and private. But, mostly the latter. Most of the students of the school were privileged and rich. They could afford their own houses. But Kiku was part of the lesser seen middle class, who managed to get a seat on the basis of his grades alone. Renting a room at a dormitory in this college was nearly a whole month's school fees. He had to work incredibly hard this year, he didn't want to waste the money he had been endowed with.

There were about 20 public dormitories, compared to some 60 private residences. The only difference was that while the houses and bungalows could only host some 5 people a year, dormitories could easily accommodate 12. In fact, 12 was the standard number of people in a single dorm. Kiku would have to live with 11 other students. Yikes!

On finding Dorm 17, his new temporary home, the black haired-student's eyebrows raised a little to find cardboard boxes strewn on the lawn, some tipped to the side, some empty, and some full of a miscellany of things that spilled onto the grass. There appeared to be someone settling in already. Parking his car, Kiku had barely taken a step onto the lawn when a tall, blonde young man ran out of the house, as though looking for something. His brown bomber jacket flopped around on his back like a ragdoll. Spotting the second person on the lawn, he shouted, "Hey! Mind helping me settle in?!" Before Kiku could open his mouth to respond, he was pulled into the house, hearing a "Thanks!".

On entering, it was soon discovered that like most things, the dorm was larger than it looked. The doorway was placed right in the center, leading to a hallway with a solitary staircase. This hallway led to two other massive rooms, the family room on the left, with 3 sitting chairs, a three seater sofa, and two beanbags, all surrounding a large television. Then there was the dining room and kitchen on the right, with 3 parallel tables. This alone would have given Kiku a heart attack, but thankfully it didn't. The upstairs would be even more impressive...

"Alfred F. Jones! Pleasure to make your whatever!" said the blonde, after he let go of Kiku's arm.

"Acquaintance", he muttered, massaging his arm. "You too."

Alfred flashed a grin, and said, "Could ya lift this for me please?" He pointed at a cardboard box to the right of the entrance. Kiku obliged.

After making a difficult ascent to to the first floor, the Japanese student wanted to find his room immediately. He posed the obvious question to Alfred.

"Hey, what's your name, dude?" asked the blonde.

"Kiku Honda."

"Oh! You're my roommate!"

Oh, brother. Kiku tried his best to suppress an impolite sigh.

"Aren't there three people in one room?"

"Yeah, we're with this guy called Ivan Braginsky."

"Alfred! Where the hell are you?!" came an infuriated voice from the floor above them.

"Jeez, Sir Limey-pants! I'm helping a kid."

Kid?! Did Kiku look a like a kid?! Sure, he was a little scrawny, and maybe shorter than most, but he was 18! He was of legal voting age!

Just when he was about to retort, a green eyed blonde student with very bushy eyebrows descended the staircase and glared at Alfred. He was wearing a dress shirt so perfectly ironed that it made Kiku uncomfortable in his Pokèmon T-shirt. The guy was classy, no doubt. Rich and classy. Heck, he had a British accent! Can't get classier than that. When he saw Kiku, his face lost its stern expression.

"Sorry about my brother, the name's Arthur Kirkland."

"In case you're wondering why it isn't Arthur Jones, a way cooler name…." Alfred began.

"It's because our parents divorced, and I studied in London." Arthur finished. "So there."

"Pleased to meet you", said Kiku, wondering if it wasn't too late to rev up the car and go home.

"Where's Matthew?" asked Arthur. Alfred shrugged. And then the Englishman exploded.

"He is your cousin, you are supposed to take care of him! You idiot! How can you lose track of someone right under your nose!?"

A soft voice behind him whispered, "I'm here, Arthur." A young man with an unusual curl and glasses wearing a red hoodie gently stepped out from behind him. He was clutching a large white teddy bear rather protectively. "Matthew Williams." He shook Kiku's hand while the latter introduced himself.

"So, your roommates haven't come yet?" asked Alfred.

Arthur sighed. "'Fraid not."

"Sorry to interrupt, but are you all in the same year at school?"

Matthew said in that half-whisper of his, "Oh, I'm in my first year like Al….I skipped 3rd grade. I'm a year younger than Al.."

Kiku did the maths in his head. "Ah, I understand."

Arthur's eyebrows furrowed." I started my first year in London, and almost finished it, until I had to move back to my old home. And now I need to do First Year English Literature all over again! At least it's not Hemingway this time…."

Alfred didn't let him finish. "He acts like he's my dad, but in reality, he's only a year older than me!"

"That's because you act like a child, Alfred." Alfred proved his brother's point by sticking out his tongue. Their conversation was interrupted by rowdy shouting from outside the dorm. The four sped downstairs to see who it was, with Arthur muttering "Stupid seniors…" under his breath.

Normally, when one steps out of their residence, they don't expect to see a car, with one unfortunate blond driver, surrounded by three other crazy male students, one with green eyes and brown hair, one with blonde hair in a ponytail, and one with chalk white hair and almost reddish eyes. Arthur's face darkened.

Just as the vehicle stopped, he stomped toward it with death in his eyes. The dark and white haired guys smirked as though they knew what was coming, while the driver looked like he wanted to faint.

To Kiku's shock, Matthew's annoyance, and Alfred's amusement, Arthur went up to the ponytailed student and punched him in the face, hollering carefully chosen words, reminiscent of the Victorian Era. Kiku was panicking now. He hadn't driven into a mental asylum, had he?

Matthew sighed. He turned to Kiku and muttered, " They've known each other for 7 years. And hated each other for the same. His name is Francis Bonnefoy, he taught me French..." Matthew smiled sadly, as though remembering nicer times.

"And the others?" Kiku could feel his anxiety building.

Matthew shook his head cluelessly." No idea."

Arthur stormed back into the dormitory, muttering terrifying curses with care. He dashed up the stairs with firm purpose. Everything was perfectly silent for a second, and everyone (except Kiku, who was still in a case of shock) exchanged relieved smiles.

Until a resounding, "No!" broke the air, making all those present jump.

The green eyed blonde hobbled down the staircase in shock, akin to a dead man walking. Alfred showed an involuntary twitch, before running up to see if his brother was alright, giggling a little as he did so.

"Dude, you okay?" asked Alfred, suppressing the sliver of concern in his voice.

"I'm sharing a room with..." Arthur twisted his head toward the entrance."Him."

It took a short while for Alfred to process what he had just been told. He couldn't resist. Al's contagious laughter filled the whole building with energy and vibrancy.

Soon, Matthew couldn't help himself, and began chuckling. Even Kiku couldn't help but smile softly.

"You all think this is funny?" said Arthur, incredulous.

Alfred stopped laughing momentarily, before asking, "You want us to be nice or honest?"

Arthur did a classic eye roll, and muttered, "Idiots. In case you're wondering, it's me, Frog-face and some Antonio something."

A happy voice rung through the house. "That's me!" It turned out to belong to the green eyed, co-passenger of Francis, the olive-skinned brunette. He had a smile that didn't leave his face even once, and he only had a large bag slung on his shoulder, a massive suitcase, and a guitar.

"I hope you don't mind! I play when I get bored!" said Antonio cheerily, in a slight Spanish accent.

Arthur forced a smile. Happy airheads were exactly the opposite of him, the cynical smart-arse.

However, Kiku admired him. He was so casual and optimistic, and so very innocent.

Arthur, on the other hand, would have liked very much at that moment to shoot himself.

"I'll meet you upstairs!" the brunette grinned, and began whistling as he ascended to the second floor.

Matthew and Kiku were still on the ground floor next to the door, while Arthur and Alfred were on the first. The three other car passengers entered the dorm, Kiku and Matthew helping them. Francis also made his way upstairs, winking at Arthur while doing so. You could see smoke pour out of the Englishman's ears at this point.

The white haired student and the blonde driver introduced themselves as Gilbert and Ludwig Beilschmidt respectively. They came from a pretty prestigious family, with a long lineage. When Kiku asked them why they were in a dorm rather than a private residence, Gilbert laughed and Ludwig looked mutinous. It turned out that Gilbert had destroyed a laboratory 'accidentally', and had set three classrooms on fire. Paying the repair charges, his parents couldn't afford to send Gilbert to a private residence. Ludwig was roped into this by his brother at no fault of his own.

"I was definitely not going to let West get away without me!" Gilbert remarked.

"Wh-why do you call him West?" whispered Matthew.

Gilbert paused in the conversation, as though he had forgotten something." Did I hear something?"

Matthew looked a little offended, and repeated his question louder.

"Oh, sorry! Didn't see you there! Anyway, I call him West because when we were kids, we used to holiday in two different places. One was in East Germany, and it was awesome, the other was in West Germany. Ludwig liked the second one better."

Matthew gave a curt nod of understanding. "Better go get settled in! You're my roommate!"

Gilbert smirked, and picked up his luggage. "See you there!"

Ludwig sighed with a mixture of exhaustion and exasperation. "Pleasure to meet you. Is it alright if I take a short nap? I've been driving since 5 in the morning..."

Matthew smiled hospitably. "Go ahead. Your room is to the right on the first floor."

"Danke," said 'Ludwig, before slowly and dazedly walking up the stairs. Somehow, after the arrival of the Beilschmidts, the sky grew darker and darker, though it was just early afternoon. Kiku decided that it was time to settle into his room.

He wasn't sure of what he was expecting. A bunk bed maybe, and a single bed to the side, and a small attached bathroom. Minimal decor, and maybe a school banner or something. When he walked into Room B, he might have just toppled over.

The room was rectangular, and had three square depressions to the left, right and front of the door through which Kiku had entered. Each depression started from about half a metre from the ground, and had a mattress laid perfectly within it, under two fluffy pillows. There was a multicolored rug in the centre of the room, and an exquisitely crafted ceiling light above it. On the wall without a depression, were three large wardrobes, and a desk with a chair.

Next to one of the depressions, on the longer side of the rectangular room was a plain white wooden door, which Kiku assumed would lead to the bathroom. He stepped in, dragging his suitcase, his mouth gaping in awe.

"Pretty rad, isn't it?" a voice took the short student by surprise.

He turned to see Alfred, lying casually on one of the depression-beds, his laptop open in front of him. He stretched to close it, and grinned at his roommate. " Put your stuff in one of the closets! I've called dibs on the one in the center!"

Kiku closed his mouth, smiled, and threw his suitcase onto his bed, and began taking things out of it, one by one. Alfred was staring at him, surprised at his logical method of unpacking. "Wow you make a big deal outta this."

Kiku didn't even turn to him, muttering, "Makes it easier to sort things out…"

The next two hours were spent meticulously by Kiku unpacking his luggage. The overcast sky darkened, making the sunny 1 PM weather look like 6PM weather. Kiku had just finished put his last pair of pants into the cupboard when he heard the gentle sounds of drizzle against glass. This soothing sound was accompanied by the much shriller one of the doorbell.

Kiku headed out of his room to answer the door; Alfred had meanwhile put on his headphones, and was in a different world.

Once Kiku reached the ground floor, he opened the door to two red-haired brothers (by their similar looks) who were lightly soaked. The both had unusual strands of hair sticking out of their head in opposing directions. He noticed that one of the brothers had slightly darker hair than the other, and also a stricter expression. Just when he was going to shut the door, a voice said, "Wait, aru!"

A ponytailed girl with the foresight to have an umbrella entered the dormitory and shut the door behind her, as though she was running from the mafia. She introduced herself as Yao Wang, after calming down considerably.

The Japanese student ushered them into the building. Soon, Arthur (who had practically established himself as the king of the dorm) got down to see who it was. It turned out the the two brothers were Italian, the stricter one named Lovino Vargas, and the happier one called Feliciano.

"There's one thing I'd like to inquire, Yao," said Arthur in a business-like tone. "What dorm are you in?"

"Erm.." Yao pulled out a small piece of paper from her jeans pocket and said, "17."

Arthur became quite confused at this." Odd...this is Dorm 17..."

Yao grinned with relief. "So I've found the right place, aru."

"But, this is an all-male dormitory!" Yao sighed and scowled at the same time.

"I am male, aru!" The agitation in his voice indicated that this wasn't the first time he had been mistaken for a girl. Arthur offered his apologies. Apparently Yao was Gilbert's roommate. However, the Italy brothers' roommate wasn't downstairs, he was snoozing. Everyone, unfortunately neglected to tell the brothers that.

Therefore, in approximately 2 minutes, a loud scream echoed through the building, making all those present jump. Lovino ran down the stairs as though he'd seen a ghost. "There's a man in our room!" he sputtered out.

In the family room, Arthur tried to suppress his laughter, and said, "That's your roommate, Ludwig Beilschmidt."

"Why does his name sound like a disease?!" retorted Lovino.

"Fratello, that's mean!" Feliciano was just behind his brother. "You woke him up!"

Ludwig hobbled down the stairs, rubbing his eyes. "I can sleep through lightning, " he muttered bitterly. "But I can't sleep through screaming." He headed to the kitchen to grab a glass of water.

The blonde's brother was, meanwhile, laughing his head off in the family room, almost to the point of tears. Kiku sat on one of the beanbags, Antonio, Francis and Gilbert were on the floor, Matthew sat next to Arthur on the sofa, while Yao was in another beanbag. Lovino, exasperated, sat next to Matthew. Arthur felt the urge to pat him on the back consolingly, for he knew the terrors of having a disagreeable roommate.

Feliciano had just stepped into the living room when a crackle of lightning made him tremble. He went to sit on the ground with Francis. Outside, the weather was abysmal. The gentle roar of rushing water could be heard, followed immediately by the sound of rain splattering against the ground; the distant throb of thunder was always present.

The eerie atmosphere was broken by a single sharp note emitted by the doorbell. Being in the closest proximity to the door, Kiku went to answer it, to find a tall, blonde man, wearing a black coat and a white scarf, both of which were completely drenched. He had an unnerving sort of smile on his face, and also quite a prominent nose.

"Sorry, I am late, da?" said the student. "I'm Ivan Braginsky."

"Kiku Honda. I am your roommate. Come in, you must be freezing…"

Ivan chuckled dismissively. "Don't be silly. I'm Russian. The cold doesn't bother us."

"Guys, what's for dinner?" said Alfred, who had finally decided to come downstairs. he stopped in his tracks after seeing Ivan. "You." He glared at the Russian.

Ivan's smile grew even wider. "Good to see you again." His voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Kiku felt like a war would start between the two, so he interrupted, "You know each other?" Ivan nodded.

"Da, it was at a senior school sports tournament where we met."

Alfred's glare became murderous. "I lost the trophy, they gave it to some kid in Russia."

"That 'some kid in Russia' was me," said Ivan conclusively.

Kiku wanted to slap both of them for having enmity over a lost trophy, but decided not to (they were both pretty muscular…). Besides, Arthur and Matthew's bent heads, and silence indicated that there was something more to the situation. Something far more serious. He didn't want to pry.

"So, who's cooking?" he said, in order to lighten the atmosphere. Arthur gratefully jumped onto his distraction and said, "I'll do it."

Matthew snorted but tried to cover it up with a cough, sounding like a cat.

Francis shrieked a little and said, "Mon ami! Your food has but one purpose only. Poisoning. Leave the cooking to me." He headed toward the kitchen. Arthur scowled and muttered something inaudible.

Ivan went into the living room, and not noticing him, sat on Matthew. The poor kid flailed around wildly for a few seconds until Arthur told Ivan that his seat was already occupied.

"Oh, sorry, da?" said Ivan somewhat apologetically.

The 11 watched television for a while, and soon, the incredible aroma of onions and cream filled the house. It made Kiku salivate. He hadn't eaten anything since late the previous night.

"It's done!" a shrill voice called out from the kitchen. "Get your bowls! There's enough soup and bread for everyone!"

Thankfully, the college had been generous enough to provide cutlery and utensils, as well as about 3 days worth of ingredients. There was a ruckus, as the students tried to pry open the counters above the stovetop. For Kiku, his height was a serious disadvantage, and he was the last to get a bowl.

One by one, the students lined up while Francis served them his grandmother's French onion soup with chunks of whole wheat bread, using a ladle, not too dissimilar from a cafeteria lunch lady.

They all filled up the vacant seats, and the atmosphere became jovial. People were laughing, talking, insulting each other (in the case of Francis and Arthur) and generally, goofing off.

Kiku had the extraordinary luck to sit with the only two people in a 50 foot radius who were silently staring at each other. Ivan and Alfred were sipping their soup in silence, causing the air to become heavy with dread.

Kiku was, at this point, mortified by the thought of living with them for the rest of the year. He spoke up, anxious to break the silence. "So, what are your majors?"

Apparently, this seemingly harmless question caused more awkwardness than ever. Ivan developed a content smile on his face, while Alfred looked like he wanted to explode.

"I have taken geography, da?" said Ivan, cheerily.

Alfred looked like he wanted to destroy something, and mumbled, "Math."

Alfred wouldn't have looked the sort to take Math at all, but Kiku doubted that he was qualified enough to make such a judgement. He faked a smile. "Oh, that's nice. I've taken economics."

Kiku read the atmosphere and decided that he should focus on the food. It was absolutely incredible, with the tangy onion cutting through the rich cream. The bread was lathered with butter, and gave substance to the soup. He figured that he shouldn't let this effort go unpraised, which is why he tapped Francis on the back. The blonde turned to him and said, "Oui? What is it?"

"I wanted to tell you that the soup is really nice." Francis smiled at the compliment. "Merci, " he said in a rather sly manner, borderline flirtatious. Kiku looked away, catatonic.

After dinner, the twelve went back into their respective rooms to settle in for the night. Kiku was almost too tired to change his clothes. He, Alfred and Ivan took turns showering and changing into their pyjamas. They settled into bed, and Kiku was strangely content. He had a whole day of classes to look forward to, and he couldn't wait.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: The reason I've posted two chapters in one day is that I had been writing them for a long time and I didn't want to post it just yet. The next chapter will regrettably take a little longer to write, but I promise that I won't leave this fic incomplete! I'm planning to end it with graduation, but don't worry, a lot of awesomely hilarious (and sentimental) scenes are coming. This chapter has FrUK, but England's drunk, so he can be excused. XD

Alfred felt a sharp pain flood through his elbow, waking him up instantly. "Ugh", he groaned, struggling to sit up. He began floundering around to get his glasses. He did, eventually, and noticed a yellow ray of light come through a window in close proximity to him. He pursed his lips before leaning slightly to his right, to pick up his phone. It took a while to turn on, and when he unlocked it, he nearly fell out of bed. It was 8:24. Classes started at 9:00. "Mayday!" he shouted, making Kiku jolt upright.

"What is it?!" he asked Alfred frantically.

"We woke up late!" Kiku looked as though he was going to puke. He leaped out of bed, as the two made a mad dash for the bathroom. They fought over the door, and eventually opened it. "Okay! We need to plan this out methodically!"

Alfred put a finger up to his chin, and said, "Face the door and brush while I shower."

Kiku turned the color of a tomato and said, "That's weird!"

"Do we have a better option?!" said Alfred, almost to the point of shouting. His first day of classes, and he was late?! Oh, Mom would annihilate him…

The awkwardness soon passed, and Alfred brushed while Kiku showered, his towel wrapped around him like a kilt. They got out of the bathroom at precisely 8:38, and heard a shrill sound, that of a whistle.

"The heck was that?!" asked Alfred.

"I'm not sure! It didn't even wake him up!" Kiku jerked his head towards Ivan. Alfred rolled his eyes and went to grab some clothes from his closet.

Kiku pulled on his light blue hoodie and a pair of jeans, while Alfred put on a t-shirt, proudly exclaiming 'The HERO is me'.

Just when the two were tying their sneakers' laces, Ivan shifted in his bed. "Shoot, "said Kiku. "We forgot to wake him." Alfred suppressed a growl. "Screw him. "

Kiku was surprised at Alfred's meanness, but thought not to pry, exactly how he had the previous night. They grabbed their backpacks which thankfully had their books inside them already and sped out of their room.

The lone Russian meanwhile, got up softly and said, "Oh, those two left already?" He checked the time on his phone and smiled. "I'm so happy I applied for the evening class." He settled into his mass of pillows and snored off to dreamland.

* * *

"Get up!" said Ludwig, exasperated. He had been trying to wake up the Italian brothers for the past fifteen minutes, but to no avail. Ludwig was accustomed to waking up early. In fact he had a strict schedule, and even managed to fit a quick workout into it. He had, since 6AM, been stretching outside, in order to not wake the other residents of the dormitory. But, even after returning to his room, he found his roommates dozing. He had never encountered this level of laziness, in his brother, or his cousin Roderich. It was nothing less than remarkable.

The German paced in his room, wondering how he was going to wake up the two logs. He didn't want to use force, but he was really left with no choice. He gently prodded the lighter haired brother, who was smiling slightly, even in his sleep. Feliciano giggled in his sleep and mumbled, "Fratello, stop it!"

Ludwig raised his tone a little. "Wake up, you two! You won't be able to reach class on time if you sleep in like this!" Clearly, the impending doom of losing their academic stature meant absolutely nothing to the Italians. Ludwig was getting annoyed.

He hated using it, but only at the most desperate of times did he whip out his military whistle. The last time he remembered using the little object made of steel was about 4 or five months previously, in order to wake his brother, who at the time had a terrible hangover. He blew into the whistle, from which emanated a shrill noise that would have sent the entire neighbourhood into turmoil. Lovino jolted upright, shouted "Bastardo!" and fell out of bed. Feliciano, who didn't have his brother's vocabulary, just gave out a cry of pain and landed on his backside.

"YOU IDIOTA!" shouted Lovino, seething with rage. "What in hell were you trying to do, dammit?!" Ludwig sighed in response.

"I was just trying to wake you up...the time's 8:40. You have 20 minutes to shower, get dressed, and reach class." The brothers exchanged a glance, and then wildly raced for the bathroom. While the brothers brushed their teeth, the German inwardly sighed and got dressed. To think he'd have to deal with those two for the whole year…..

The brothers popped out of the bathroom (literally, they almost broke the door), and frantically began rummaging through their cupboards, making an entropy. After what seemed like an hour, the brothers finally dressed themselves in matching sweatshirts, and ran out the door. The time was 8:57. Ludwig ran a block in less than two minutes, and, to his blessed relief, arrived before his mechanics professor. What happened to the Italians, he didn't know.

* * *

A lot of people, over the years, had asked Antonio why he liked the guitar. To everyone who inquired, his answer was the same. _It gives me energy_. Or _me da energía_, in Spanish (if he was talking to a relative or a close friend). Unfortunately, Antonio was a weirdo, because his guitar didn't give anyone else energy. He had been playing for the past half hour or so, and the only reactions Arthur and Francis had shown were shifting a little in their beds.

Of course, Antonio was just idly plucking at the strings, rather than playing it with a pick. Therefore, the noise was soft, and it actually was making him feel a little drowsy. He forced his green eyes open, and leaned over a checked his alarm clock. 8:02. He still had some 56 minutes, so maybe he could take a short nap...

His eyes fluttered open to the noise of arguing. He inclined his head to the right in order to view what was happening. All that could be seen were two silhouettes, those of Arthur and Francis, dangerously close to each other, ready and itching for a fight. Rolling his eyes, Antonio checked his clock once more. This time he leaned too far, toppling out of bed, briefly catching the numbers 8, 2 and 1. His brain quickly put the pieces of the puzzle together. Shit. They would be late.

Antonio stepped in between the two that were restarting the Hundred Years' War. "Please, stop fighting so early in the morning!" his feeble voice squeaked.

Arthur looked at him in contempt. "This isn't your problem!"

Antonio was panicking. He didn't know how to pacify the two. "Please! We're all going to be late if you do this!"

Francis scowled. "Toni, stay out of this!"

Antonio had had the last straw. "Stop it," he whispered menacingly. "If you don't, you'll regret it..."

Francis' face softened. He knew what happened when Antonio got angry, and it would be ten times worse than anything the Englishman could do.

Even Arthur saw the Spaniard's logic. However, he didn't think it to be a threat. He grunted, and stepped toward their shared bathroom. "Don't even think of entering this, frog," he warned Francis, who just smiled playfully.

Antonio had showered and changed early, so all he had to do was grab his books, and leave. The sooner he was rid of the two foes, the better. He returned to his own cheery self, whistling 'Maria'.

* * *

Unknown to everyone but Alfred, Matthew still slept with his stuffed polar bear, Kumajiro. He wasn't really ashamed of it, and Alfred thought that it was cute. He was pretty organized in his habits, and had set his alarm for 8 the previous night. His alarm fulfilled its purpose, and Matthew sat up and stretched his arms, reaching for his glasses. On finding them, he slipped out of bed like a snake, and took heavy footsteps toward the bathroom. He thought it to be something to take pride on, the fact that he could brush his teeth out of pure habit.

After doing his daily sanitary duties, he figured he needed to wake his two roommates, who were sleeping like babies. Was Gilbert sucking his thumb? Maybe it was just a trick of the light. His hypothesis wasn't physically possible. He chuckled at his own stream of thought. The words he used were so scientific; he was definitely born to study medicine. Sure, it took a lot of cramming, but doctors made such a major change in society, for the better.

"You guys," he mumbled in his extraordinarily gentle voice. "Get up! Or you'll be late."

They didn't even twitch. It was almost as though Matthew wasn't even there. This always aggravated him. When he used to go trick or treating with Alfred and Arthur, he always was the invisible man. Sometimes they accidentally left him at a house.

"Get up, you two!" Now he was shouting. Yao scowled in his sleep and pulled his pillow above his head, while Gilbert muttered something about "5 more minutes."

Matthew had had his last straw. He yanked their bed sheets off them. Given the chilly weather of last night, the temperature throughout the night had been quite frosty. Then again, it was late autumn. Winter was right around the corner. Yao began shivering on his bed, and eventually got up, muttering, "So cold, aru..." Just then, a distant whistle was heard, as though a train was very close by.

Gilbert snapped awake when his bed sheet was pulled off, revealing SpongeBob Squarepants pajamas. He snatched the sheet from Matthew and covered himself, the blood rushing to his face. "I'm so sorry," Matthew apologized. "I didn't want you to be late for class."

Gilbert's look of hostility dissolved to a certain degree. He closed his eyes, and exhaled. "Danke."

Matthew turned to check the time. 8:43. He had spent almost half an hour waking the two sleepyheads up. Ah, well, at least he wouldn't be late. While the long-haired boy and his roommate fought for dominance over the bathroom. Matthew double checked his bag, hoping that he had taken his notes register, and headed out, blending into the crowd.

* * *

Arthur always told Alfred that he had no special skills. That geezer was so wrong. He could text at the speed of light. In class, he had stealthily texted, 'Party at Dorm 17; 7:00' to all the inhabitants of Dorm 16. Sure, it was on slightly short notice, but hey, the greatest parties in history were always impromptu.

After reaching his dorm at around 4, Al jogged up to his room, lazily dumped his bag onto the bed, and immediately ran to the convenience store on campus, Globo-Mart. It actually had a sort of black market for alcohol, safe from the eyes of the teachers. The American had a lot of influence on this market, which was great for his party. College students often do such stupid things, without anticipating the consequences. Honestly, they're so predictable.

After purchasing a few (4 crates) bottles of different sorts of alcohol, from beer to wine, he quickly opened the door, carrying just one. The rest would be delivered to his dorm, the cashier promised. Just as he was planning to sneak back to his room, he was instantly spotted by his hawk-eyed brother.

"What have you got in your hands, young man?!" said Arthur, sounding similar to a bossy character from Alfred's favorite Disney movie.

"Just a bit o' liquor….rum….whiskey…," Alfred was choosing his words with great caution.

He was quite aware of his brother's weakness for alcohol, and that it often surpassed his regard for the rules. He smirked, knowing that he had won the game.

Arthur felt his face heat up, well aware that he had been cornered. "One night," he hissed, pointing at him. "I won't rat you out, just for today."

"God, Arthur, how long has it been since you last…?" He didn't need to finish his sentence, for the Englishman picked up what he meant instantly.

"Three months," said Arthur bitterly.

Just at that moment, Antonio came downstairs and innocently glanced at the crate in the American's hand. He raised his eyebrows questioningly, curious.

"Booze," whispered Al crudely. Arthur's thick eyebrows furrowed at this mangling of the English language. He did hate slang with a passion. Especially Yankee slang.

Antonio turned red, and he began showing nervousness, crossing his arms, and clutching them tightly, as though hugging himself. "Alfred, is it necessary to drink?"

Alfred was, to say the least, surprised at his question. "Well, if you want to have any fun, then yeah….otherwise…..I mean, if you don't wanna, then that's totally cool…."

Antonio released his arms, and exhaled with relief. "Gracias." Arthur asked his brother,"So, who've you invited? Not the whole county, I hope, like last time."

Alfred narrowed his eyes, "Ha ha ha, Limey-pants. That's so funny. This time, I've only invited Dorm 16."

"Ve~! Invited? Is a party gonna happen?" Feliciano latched onto the conversation, making Arthur groan inwardly.

Alfred grinned with pride. "Yeah, I invited the folks from Dorm 16 to come at 7."  
Feliciano clapped his hands to his face in horror. "Ve! That's in two hours! We haven't even put up any decorations or anything!" Alfred slapped the front of his face.

"Shit! I forgot about decorations! What're we gonna do now?"

"Well, me and Francis have taken Art and Design, so I'm sure we can come up with something in two hours! Leave it to us, Captain!" The Italian saluted, as though he was a private. Alfred loved giving orders. "Yao! Lovino! Could you do the cooking?"

Yao got up without protest and headed to the kitchen, while Lovino angrily stepped to Alfred and grabbed his collar. "You aren't the boss of me, you fatass bastard."

Alfred faked a regretful sigh. "Well, I guess we'll just have to order pizza now. You know what I mean, the greasy stuff..." Lovino gave an involuntary twitch with hell in his eyes. "Fine, you son of a-" Feliciano covered his brother's mouth, knowing what was coming, and dragged him away to the kitchen.

s 7:03 when the doorbell rang three times. Alfred signaled for Arthur to turn up the music, and went to answer the door. Before Al could even see who it was, a blue-eyed blond with spiky hair pushed him aside, shouting, "The party don't start till I walk in! Name's Mathias Kohler! You're Alfred, right!?"

Alfred was in heaven. He had found his people. The crazy party animal duo was joined by Gilbert, who was probably equally as crazy as the three of them. Behind the spiky-haired blonde were two students, one with pale yellow hair, and one with almost white hair. The blond was utterly emotionless, and seemed to have a magical aura around him, while his companion was somewhat short for a college student.

A tall, bespectacled blonde with no expression on his face entered after the three, paired with a shorter, young man with a constant smile on his face.

Arthur, who was intrigued by the student with the magical aura, walked up to him and exchanged pleasantries. The student revealed nothing more than the fact that he was Norwegian, called Lukas Bondevik, and that his friend was named Emil Steilsson, and that he was of Icelandic origin. At this point, the Englishman was incredibly intrigued, and struck up a conversation with Lukas, who simply nodded every now and then, listening intently.

The cheerful blond student was greeting everyone with a 'Moi!' while his companion was so silent he could've substituted for the large statue in the campus park. Amidst conversation it was discovered that the happy guy's name was Tino Vainamoinen, and his friends was Berwald Oxenstierna. Soon, the atmosphere began picking up, and the only person not enjoying themselves was Kiku, who was happily holed up in his room, studying.

Eventually, the loud music became too much for the Japanese student, and he went down to attempt to convince the partiers to lower the volume. By the time he was on the ground floor, five more students had arrived: A pretty brunette called Elizabeta (who Gilbert was flirting with), Ludwig's cousin Roderich (what the heck was he doing there?!), a smart techie by the name of Eduard, along with a long haired, mild-mannered student named Toris, and a fairly stylish student called Feliks. Kiku barely found space to breathe in the crowd of strangers; of course, the fact that he was already asphyxiating because of nervousness didn't really help. He was making a tough trek through the sea of people when someone grabbed his hand and began dancing with him. A girl with short blonde hair and large….er….features was enjoying herself thoroughly, which couldn't be applied to the student she was dancing with, who was as red as a pickled plum. Even Kiku began lightening up after a while, and even making casual conversation with his newfound acquaintance, named Irina.

Just close by, Antonio had let himself succumb to the wine that Al had bought, and was having quite a terrifying argument with Ivan, while Lovino and Yao tried to keep them from killing each other.

Feliciano was giggling with Elizabeta about something, while Ludwig, Mathias and Gilbert bonded over beer.

In the crowd, he was spotted by Alfred, who was fairly intoxicated. The American muttered something about Arthur and drinks, while he dragged Kiku to another part of the dorm for the second time in two days. Apparently, Arthur didn't handle drinks well.

He had both his hands on one of the dining tables, supporting his upper body and a look of intense determination on his face. "Everyone!" he shouted, successfully getting the attention of all the dancers and drinkers. "I have an announcement! I can't keep it in anymore! It'll kill me!" His voice was cracking, as though he was on the verge of tears. "I AM A HUGE DIRECTIONER! NIALL FOREVER!" The whole crowd cheered him on, even Alfred and Matthew, while Kiku just stood, unaware of what to do.

Before anyone could restrain him, Arthur stood up on the table majestically, looked at Francis with a smirk, and began singing. Not well, the narrator would like to add.

"I've tried playing it cool….but when I'm looking at you.."

Francis was smiling and blushing, like a schoolgirl offered a compliment, and Kiku guessed that he wasn't too sober either.

"'Cause I need that one thing! And you've got that one thing!"

Immediately afterward, Arthur jumped on Francis, giving him a hug, and to everyone's shock, a kiss. Alfred shouted excitedly, Matthew began singing 'Arthur and Francis, sitting in a tree' while Kiku's mouth was gaping. Matthew, in his wasted state, handed Kiku a glass of something. Since it probably wasn't poisonous, and this could've been an opportunity to fit in, Kiku swallowed the drink, and fell into a chair. His throat was on fire, and his head was doing a manic form of gymnastics.

You are a Japanese man, he thought to himself. And you must do what you must do. Kiku grabbed the bottle closest to him, and began finishing it up. Within minutes, Kiku was as drunk as the Englishman. He didn't remember all the events of the night, but he remembered it involved flirting, Hatsune Miku, and a stolen purse.


	3. Chapter 3

The buzz felt by Kiku the previous day was brutally balanced out by the terrific hangover he had the following day. Almost everyone in the dorm wished they were dead, so the atmosphere wasn't exactly what you could call pleasant.

Antonio was apologizing to Ivan, who seemed to have handled his liquor the best) over and over, to the point that the Russian got annoyed.

Lovino and Yao still stuck together, exchanging light banter, if they were willing to spend energy and open their mouths.

Kiku, Alfred and Matthew were slumped over the dining table ad mumbling philosophical things, with no real coherence.

Feliciano seemed to be the only one in the dorm in an unusually bright mood. However, that wasn't too surprising, considering he hadn't drunk as much as the others.

Ludwig and Gilbert were relaxing in the family room, watching television with baggy, bloodshot eyes. The former's cousin was clever enough not to drink, and had apparently filmed them all. No man in history could possibly have received so many gory death threats in one night.

But undoubtedly, the man who was at his worst was Arthur. He was sobbing to himself in his bathroom, mumbling, "Bloody frog…" to himself. Francis went to bed pretty early the previous night, and was still snoring. The time was around 6 in the morning, and life sucked. After the passage of about two hours, the unfortunate students were required to attend classes. And, you never saw a more depressed band of students. Even witnessing them dragging themselves, head bent was enough to make you feel tired. In class, the students were like zombies, half asleep, but trying to maintain themselves. Kiku had accidentally told the entire class that profits were overrated, Ivan had called the capital of China Taiwan, and Arthur failed to answer the question, "What did the author mean when he said that 'The grass reflected autumn'?" ("THE GRASS REFLECTED AUTUMN DAMMIT,THAT'S WHAT HE MEANT"

Possibly the worst blunder was committed by Yao, who bravely and confidently stood at the front of his class, and said that World War 2 was fought between the Romans and the Spartans. The teachers would all have liked to give the residents of Dorm 17 a swift kick on the posterior, but, it was against school rules. All the dorm's members made Alfred swear to never throw any parties ever again, or at least until they didn't value their sanity any more. After an awful lot of protest, Alfred eventually agreed to the harsh conditions. The days soon turned to weeks, as the students shifted their focus to academics. The college had a certain system of standardized testing, that had a round of unit tests (practical project and theory-based) before the half yearlies. These unit tests counted for some 35% of their average G.P.A., which made everyone panic, and go into a frenzy. It was time to hit the books.

Feliciano had taken Fine Arts, which included both actual painting and sketching, along with Art history. Frankly, he seemed to be the luckiest, his 'studies' were drawing. He tried to get his brother and roommates to pose for his still life sketches, but they were too busy to help out the poor Italian. Out of ideas, he began using Francis' magazines as reference.

Mechanics was what Ludwig had to study, and the amount of passion he held for the subject was astonishing. Everyone else found it incredibly boring, but didn't dare to say so in front of him, if they valued life and limb. He spent hour after hour, poring over his rather expensive books, memorizing each detail. This annoyed Lovino to no end, and he kept playing loud music in their room to irritate him. Thank God, Ludwig had a lot of self control.

On the topic of Lovino, he had taken Psychology, simply to learn certain ways to control people. He was incredibly disappointed to learn that persuasion would be part of the second year course. He however, still had to study, but didn't pay too much attention to it, just skimming through chapter after chapter. Arthur thought of this to be a very unhealthy method of studying, but if Lovino cared, he would've stopped this casualness a long time ago.

Arthur barely found time for his own work in between bossing everyone around. Granted, it was difficult not to feel sorry for him, considering he had to repeat a whole year, for no fault of his own. The Englishman spent long hours in his room, with books all over, and scribbled notes on their pages. His two roommates didn't even mind, because they were making pretty bad messes themselves.

Antonio had always been messy and carefree, so his Botany diagrams and textbooks were thrown about everywhere. He honestly wasn't a bad student, he just...lost track of things easily. How could he not, with tissues on his bed, cells on his cupboard, and taxonomy stuffed in his drawers? He split up his time into studying and a few socializing breaks, because he'd probably go mad if he was subjected to 'all work and no play'. He also, to Arthur's endless annoyance, took a lot of siesta breaks.

Francis was the notorious one creating all the mess in their room. He had taken design, so his room was littered with crumpled up balls of paper, and pieces of fabric, and rulers, and pencils, and whatever else you could think of. Arthur had reached the peak of irritation at this point. He went to Globo-Mart, and bought a large reel of cellotape. After coming back home, he spread the tape out on the floor meticulously, creating lines on the faded wood.

"This is my territory," he proclaimed. "And that is yours. All studies are now required to be kept within your boundaries!"

"Why is the bathroom in your boundary, Arthur?" asked Antonio.

" Because I require it the most," Arthur spoke with great hauteur.

The Spaniard and the Frenchman shared a glance. Two hours later, the Englishman had been restrained using his own tape, the three territories had been reestablished, and the bathroom was in none of them. Quite a diplomatic way to handle things.

While Arthur was getting choked, his brother was the same. Metaphorically, of course. His mathematics assignments were slowly coiling around his head, strangling it. He mentally vowed that he'd climb up the Empire State building and, using a megaphone, announce that he was an idiot if he ever used the vectors he had to deal with now.

Kiku was a little better, as he rather enjoyed economics. Sure, it had a lot of abstract scenarios and ideas involved, but he was ready to deal with all of them. Occasionally, Alfred would throw his hands up in despair, and Kiku would feel obliged to help him out. It happened so frequently that they both somewhat merged their studies, with Alfred picking up some economics, and Kiku exercising his math skills

Ivan was a little better off than Alfred, but still fairly bored. Geography to him was tedious, and he was only studying it because….ah, he didn't want to dwell on it too much. He just focused on the work at hand, regardless of how much it made him want to sleep.

Above the Russian's room, Yao was trembling with dread. His history syllabus seemed like it was from hell itself, and it spanned centuries. If only the stupid white haired student beside him would shut up about not having an 'awesomeness' major, maybe the Chinese man could actually focus.

Gilbert was feeling rather relaxed. He had taken Chem, and honestly, it was just mixing a bunch of liquids to see if they explode or not. He was taking it even easier than Lovino. If the German paid attention to him, Matthew would've given him quite an earful.

The poor Canadian had too much on his plate to do so. Clearly, the timid student had the most detailed syllabus, which was neither a good thing, or a bad thing. A sad sense of gloom hung over the dorm, making it look almost like a morgue.

Since everyone (well, besides Antonio and Feliciano) was so unmotivated, and certain that they were going to fail, they figured that they should relax the evening before the tests. Now how would they do that? Roderich had sent them the film of them drunk, so they decided they could watch that. After all, what's life without a good chuckle, and an impending sense of doom? Slipping the CD into the player, the students gathered around their LED TV, ready for a massive blow. The beginning honestly wasn't that bad. It was just a blur of lights and music and people, with some recognizable faces. The camera shifted to Ivan, who was happily sitting at a table in the corner, smiling eerily while finishing off a bottle of vodka (wow, talk about perpetuating stereotypes). Then there was Lovino, chatting with Irina, quite happy. Yao seemed to be not too far away, talking to Tino and Berwald, but he was still not entirely visible. Alfred seemed to go wild, rocking out with Gilbert, Ludwig and Mathias and chugging down beer. Roderich really moved around the place a lot, catching shots of Antonio wistfully staring at a bottle of wine, and Feliciano chatting with Emil and Elizabeta. Things hadn't gotten too bad until Arthur made his Declaration of Directionerness. Francis chuckled at the tape, while Arthur hugged a pillow from the couch, to the point of sobbing into it. Alfred was blushing the whole time, filled with disbelief, and Matthew was refusing to glance at the screen. Kiku was much less perturbed than the rest, as he still had clear memories of the incident. What he didn't know was what was coming. Kiku had begun drinking on the tape, and started acting weird. First of all, he began invading people's personal space, so much so that he would probably have to marry Alfred, Arthur, Matthew, Ivan, Gilbert and Yao all at once to save face. The rest were giggling at the Japanese student's antics, while Kiku had covered his face in shame. The worst was yet to come. In the clip, Kiku had offered to sing in slurred words, and did so. Three songs. World is Mine by Hatsune Miku (quite a classic, really), PonPonPon by Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (that was a teensy bit more embarrassing) and possibly worst of all, Sakura Kiss, the theme song of a very famous anime that Kiku did not like to admit he watched. Unfortunately he sang Sakura Kiss in English, and it's lyrics were quite…odd. The scene melted into one crazy party, people were dancing, drinking and eating, and it was hard to tell who was who anymore. The tape ended, and left all the students feeling just a little more awkward than usual.

The students went to bed early that night, unable to face each other without blushing madly.

The following morning, they woke up, not too dissimilar from soldiers about to face combat. College students, or anyone for that matter, have terrible habits of exaggerating their miseries. If anyone had bothered to think logically, there really was no reason to be afraid. But the dread that hung over them had driven away logic and all that rubbish. They marched on the way to class, in single file, with grim expressions.

Frankly, Kiku's went pretty well. Sure, there was a question here and there that he was unsure about, but no one is perfect! Keeping an optimistic attitude, the Japanese student went back to the dorm, only to hear rowdy shouting.

He walked into the dorm to find absolute chaos. There were question papers everywhere, and next to them, open textbooks and registers. Students were senselessly babbling left and right, reminding Kiku of his high school days.

Lovino was confined to a dark and dreary corner, to soon be joined by Gilbert. Surely they were regretting the fact that they didn't sufficiently study. Yao, Ludwig and Arthur, on the other hand, were watching television, quite content. Their exams went well.

The rest were all walking around aimlessly, chatting with each other. Only Alfred was nowhere to be seen. He must be in his room, Kiku thought. He ascended the stairs, and pushed open the door to see the American, staring off into space.

"It didn't go well? "asked Kiku sympathetically. Alfred gave a slight smirk.  
"I bombed it. Numbers make my head spin."  
"Why did you take Maths, then?" Kiku couldn't stop the words in time, and blurted out what he was thinking out loud.

"Forgive me! I didn't mean to pry!" Alfred chuckled at how flustered the dark haired student became.  
"It's a long story, you don't wanna hear it."

On days when he didn't really need to be, Kiku was exceptionally good at holding his tongue. But at the worst moments imaginable, he let things slip. No wonder he didn't have a girlfriend yet.

Kiku didn't have reason to be present in the room, but didn't want to leave the American to wallow in his pity either, so he said, "Come downstairs, Alfred-san, everyone is downstairs."

Thinking about it, the American got up and stretched a bit before following his roommate down to the ground floor. Once there, an idea struck him. It would surely get everyone to relax a bit.

"You guys wanna play Monopoly?" he blurted out.

Everyone's eyes turned to him, excited at the thought.  
"But Alfred-san, 12 people cannot play Monopoly.."  
"Hmm." Alfred went into thought. "We'll form groups then! Groups of three!"

Feliciano wanted to be with Ludwig, and Lovino joined Arthur. Antonio joined the latter, and Gilbert, to his Ludwig's disappointment, joined his brother. Francis teamed up with Ivan and Matthew, leaving Alfred, Kiku and Yao as a team.

There was a dusty old board in Alfred's cupboard, which was so small that the students found it difficult to sit around it without feeling cramped. Kiku was burning red because of all the contact. The students picked tokens for their teams, Alfred's having a cola bottle, Arthur's having a car, Ivan's having a dog, and Feliciano's having a cannon.

The game began with Lovino rolling the dice of the behalf of his team. 4. What luck. He landed on the income tax. "Bloody bastards…"grumbled the Italian. Arthur volunteered to be the banker for the game, taking Lovino's money and placing it in one of the neat slots.

Next, Yao tried his luck, and got a 5. A railroad. He debated with Alfred and Kiku on whether to buy it, but eventually abstained.

Gilbert rolled the dice in his palms, bragging about how he was going to get 6. Looks like karma disagreed. He got 1. Landing on the cheapest estate of the game, Gil decided to purchase it, ignoring the warnings given to him by his brother, and built an extravagant hotel.

Ivan volunteered to roll the dice, and got 1, therefore landing on the German's hotel (which he had named Hotel Awesome). Ivan smiled in his terrifying manner, and gently said, "I think we can let this debt slide."

Mustering up some courage, Yao mumbled, "That's against...the rules, aru." Ivan smiled even wider, causing the Chinese student to shift awkwardly out of fear. "Never mind the rules," said the Russian, waving his hand dismissively. No one dared to stand up to his intimidating presence.

The game proceeded, getting a bit interesting. Arthur's team landed on Alfred's hotel, and the Englishman grumblingly forked over 200 dollars to the American, who was singing 'Money, Money, Money.' It was quite amusing.

After an hour or so of gameplay, it became evident which team was going to lose. Feliciano, Ludwig and Gilbert barely had 1000 dollars collectively, and it didn't provide reassurance that Gilbert and the Italian were madly buying useless properties left and right. Over the course of 2 hours, they were bankrupt, and the game was practically won. It had become pretty evident who was on a roll so far. Kiku's team was almost certain of its victory, but Ivan's team wasn't far behind. Arthur's team knew it was going to lose, which is why it abandoned all logic and began buying property left and right, wanting to waste whatever little money it had. After 3 hours of gameplay, Alfred and Ivan were neck at neck. The rest of their teams didn't take the competition too seriously. The Cold War duo exchanging menacing stares and taunts over the course of the match. It soon became rather creepy.

The game almost ended on a violent note, when Ivan landed on the Boardwalk, where Alfred had made a hotel. There went whatever hopes of victory the Russian's team had.

Either way, it was a fun way to forget their academic troubles.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: This fic will be Kiku-centric, and I am planning ships later on. Sorry this chapter took so long, my internet was crap for a long time. ;-;

On a wooden table in close proximity to a bed, the snow white smartphone lay, its screen pitch black. A low buzz was heard, just loud enough to wake the person nearest to it. Grumbling and mumbling, a large hand reached out from under the bedsheets, groping around for the small device. The persistent hand soon found it, unlocked the phone, and answered the call out of habit. mumbling a few words of greeting, the person on the other line began shouting in a foreign language, making the words and noises seem odd. The recipient of the call grunted in reply, not paying attention, until the words sunk in. Panicked, the student cut the phone and slid his feet out of bed. Finding his slippers, he rushed to the toilet to get dressed. Ivan Braginski was in grave danger. His sister was visiting.

As he frantically brushed his teeth, Alfred rolled onto his side in bed, his blue eyes fluttering open. Seeing the Russian so flustered, he immediately assumed that some great emergency had happened, and practically leaped out of bed. "Dude!" he shouted, trying to catch his attention. "Where's the flood?"

Ivan stuck his head outside the bathroom, his toothbrush still in his mouth. "My sister is coming!" he blabbered, barely understandable with all the foam in his mouth.

At first, Alfred thought he was kidding. I mean, he knew some people wanted to impress their siblings, but honestly, Ivan was way too excited. Alfred spent a good five minutes just staring at the Russian, his brain trying to make logic out of the situation. His brain wasn't really good at that. Just as the Russian came out of the bathroom wearing a large t-shirt and jeans, he brought out his suitcase and began stuffing his clothes into it.

The American cautiously observing him tilted his head to the side, confused. "Why are you packing?" "My sister is coming, didn't I tell you?!" Ivan was madly stuffing things into the small black bag.

Alfred whistled, still not understanding his point. "What, is she hot?"  
Ivan glared at him, and said, "When she arrives, tell her I'm in the Caribbean."  
The American laughed, and asked, "What, you have an awkward crush on her or something?"  
The Russian was almost near tears when he shook his head and mumbled, "Quite the opposite…"  
Kiku sat up in bed slowly, massaging his eyes. On seeing his roommate packing, the first words that slipped out of his mouth were, "You're leaving?"

Ivan smiled sadly at the raven-haired student, and told him, "No, but that's what you need to tell my sestra when she comes...I'll be hiding." Kiku's eyes widened slightly. Was his sister an assassin or something? Judging by his nervousness, she was much worse.

Although it was quite early in the morning, the familiar sound of the doorbell rang through the house. Before the residents could even register the sound, it rang three more times.

"Sheesh," Lovino was already downstairs. Getting up from the couch, he went to answer the door, finding a petite blonde with purplish eyes and a clearly forced smile on her face. Her long skirt was muddy at the bottom, as though she'd been walking through soil. "Is my brother here?" she asked, with death in her voice.

Lovino gulped and said, "Depends, lady. What's his name?"  
"Ivan Braginski."

The person to whom the name belonged, meanwhile, was wondering if he could fit into the cupboard. Just as he was about to step in, the door was flung open, letting cold wind through. He shivered, and turned, to see the ecstatic face of his sister. Natalya. Pushing Alfred out of the way, her long hair flew behind her as she hugged her brother. Kiku couldn't help but smile a little at the...er….siblingly love. It seemed rather sweet. Until she pulled out a knife from her bag and brandished it at Alfred and Kiku.

"Stay back," she hissed. "If I find any of you two making a move on my dear brother….."

Kiku heeded her advice, stepping back out of fear. What was she doing, it's not like her was her boyfriend….right?

"Big brother is mine and mine only…if any of you so much as try to make a move on him, I will ensure that you no longer have fingers. Clear?" She smiled maliciously.

The frail Natalya easily pulled her large brother out of the room using his scarf, demanding that he introduce her to all the residents of the building. Kiku had been pinned against the wall, full of fright. Sharing a nervous glance with Alfred, he straightened himself and accompanied his roommate downstairs, to see how the day would proceed.

Lovino didn't know what that creepy girl wanted, but shrugged it off and went back to the dining room where Antonio was chewing on a tomato (yes, a raw tomato). Practically collapsing on one of the chairs, Lovino glanced at Antonio sideways, and gently placed his feet on the table, facing the Spaniard.

"You and your brother are from Italy, right?" inquired the Spaniard innocently.

"Doesn't our accent make it obvious?" he replied in a rather hostile tone.

For better or worse, Antonio didn't detect his annoyance and grinned apologetically. "Spanish and Italian accents sound quite similar, so, I got confused."

Before Lovino could retort, Natalya and Ivan had made their entrance, with one looking helpless and the other overjoyed. She nudged her brother, expecting him to introduce her. Getting the hint, Ivan cleared his throat, and said, "I'd like you to meet my sister, Natalya."

Lovino and Antonio gave polite nods and smiles, the former unable to suppress his slight suspicion. She seemed too happy around her brother. It wasn't healthy.

"Hey, Ivan!" called out a voice from the kitchen. Natalya's smile immediately turned into a grimace. The voice was female. She pulled out a knife, almost making Lovino fall out of his chair. Antonio yelped and clung to the table, averting his gaze so as to not make eye contact. If he didn't make eye contact, maybe she wouldn't kill him.

"Show yourself," she said, a grin plastered on her terrifying face.  
Yao walked out of the kitchen holding a small bowl of something with a spoon clumsily placed in it. He perked up a bit on seeing Natalya (he might have been concealing his horror) and plainly said, "Ni hao" to her, before a knife had been placed against his neck, and he was slammed against the wall. The bowl he was holding smashed against the floor, shattering instantly.

As soon as he could speak, Yao screamed, "What the hell, aru?!" His fingers and feet scrambled against the wall, trying their best to pry him out of Natalya's iron grip on his shirt. Ivan tried to talk to Natalya to let him go, but his weak words had been smothered by the long haired student's pleas. She smiled, her hands firm on his shirt and and said, "Say, what was it you wanted to ask my brother?" Giggling, she added,"I'll answer it for you…."

"I was making a stew, aru!" Yao gasped and said, "I just wanted everyone to taste it! I was planning to give it to everyone, aru! Like Antonio and Lovino…" The aforementioned were clinging to their desks nervously, wondering if they had enough time to run before she attacked.

Natalya glared at him, deciding whether to kill him or not. She lowered her hand and brought him back down, still not taking her eyes off him. "Fine, then," she muttered decisively. She stomped toward the kitchen with firm purpose. Who knows what she did, but she spent an awful lot of time in there. Ivan had his head lowered in apology to Yao, who was massaging his chest. That incident would definitely leave a bruise. Ivan's sister raced back to the dining room, plainly said, "The stew is good," and dragged her brother out with his scarf. She led him into the family room, where Francis and Arthur were having a serious argument over the TV.

"Watch something interesting, like National Geographic, you twit! God knows, you need the smarts!"  
"Non, I want to watch The Notebook!"  
"That sappy nonsense?! Watch something of substance, will you? Because, really, you are the most arrogant, moronic- ooh, The Hobbit's on Channel 237!" Francis groaned and slumped back into the couch as the Brit began searching for the channel.  
"Can we watch Pretty Little Liars?" asked Feliciano innocently.

Arthur and Francis stared at him, unsure of how to react. Just then, the familiar sound of high heels against the floor was heard, with the clumpy sound of boots not far behind. "Hello," said Natalya, her tone considerably less cheerful. "I'm Natalya, Ivan's little sister, and future wife."

Arthur almost fell off the sofa in shock, while Francis and Feliciano's mouths fell wide open. Ivan stared at the ground, eyebrows raised in embarrassment. The dainty blonde turned to her brother and suggested, "Let's set the date, shouldn't we? You're all invited, by the way." She glanced at Feliciano, making him whimper.

Antonio stuck his head out from behind the wall distinguishing the center hallway from the dining room. "Date for what?" Lovino squinted at her, standing in the doorway.

Natalya turned to them and plainly said, "My wedding." Alfred had happened to be passing by, drinking a can of Coke, and choked upon hearing her, having to hit his chest to be able to inhale. Kiku patted him on the back, unable to believe the words himself. Natalya was eyeing the two of them with curiosity, her cheeks stained light pink. Her eyes lingered on Kiku for a split second more than they did on Alfred. Although it was incredibly subtle, Kiku picked it up almost instantly.

She turned away frantically and took a seat on the couch, between Arthur and Francis, grabbing the remote and flipping the channel. Arthur would've said something, but Ivan flashed him a warning glance, to not to interfere.

She flipped through a few fashion shows, and finally decided upon a crime serial, where someone was getting murdered. Grinning, she leaned ahead to get a better view, making everyone feel uncomfortable. Everyone was staring at Natalya, who seemed unaware of their presence. Gilbert and Ludwig walked into the room, curious to see what had captured everyone's attention. Making eye contact with them, Alfred shook his head slightly and waved his hand in front of his neck, as though cutting his head off. The German brothers nodded and said nothing.

Kiku sat on the floor in front of Natalya, not wanting to feel too awkward for long. Although it was a tiny shift, Natalya gently moved closer to him, confusing him. If she was so possessive over her brother, why would she want anything to do with him? The rest of the students decided not to mind her presence at all, and act as though she wasn't there.

And so the Saturday progressed as usual, with Antonio, Arthur and Feliciano playing a football match against Ludwig, Francis and Lovino. Alfred, Ivan, Natalya and Kiku played Mortal Kombat, with them giving each other no mercy. Gilbert and Yao were up in their room playing Scrabble, playing for almost half an hour before realizing that Matthew wanted to play too. While Ivan and Alfred were annihilating each other, Natalya seized her opportunity and asked Kiku to accompany her to the kitchen, for she wanted to have a word with him.

The Japanese student was mortified. He hadn't made a move on Ivan or anything! He was just about to call Ivan for help until he noticed she didn't have her handbag with her, therefore not having her knife either. As they took tense steps to the kitchen, Kiku wondered if he had enough skill to grab one of the knives there in case he had to defend himself.

As they entered the kitchen, she sheepishly looked from left to right, as though to make sure that no one was watching. Once she knew the coast was clear, she looked Kiku right in the eye and said, "I do not want to marry my brother anymore."

Kiku nodded, unsure of how to reply. Maybe she wanted his help to break the news to him? She was probably under the impression that his heart would be broken or something of the sort. Kiku daren't say so, but he thought that Ivan would be quite happy upon hearing the news. "So, what does it have to do with me?" he asked. Natalya's pale face filled with colour.

"I…..I want….to marry….you."

There were exactly three minutes of awkward silence between the two, broken only by Alfred's howl of triumph. Kiku opened his mouth to speak several times, but shut it, paralysed with shock. He obviously had to refuse her, but then, he knew what she was capable of and barely found the courage to say anything. She observed him curiously, and without warning, pulled his cheeks.

"You're a perfect specimen," she said. "Scrawny, but suitable." Kiku would have taken offence, but his life was in danger. He backed away slowly, a cruelly forced smile on his face. "I am flattered," he began awkwardly. "And so very honoured that you think so highly of me," he was about to add a 'but', when Natalya hugged him, and whispered, "I'm so happy you accept!"

Kiku had successfully made a bad situation worse. As he tried not to asphyxiate, he reached for the table and tried to gently push her off. As she let him go, she grinned and said, "I'll go tell my brother, he won't be too heartbroken." Letting out a giggle, she ran off to the living room, singing 'big brother~'. Kiku leaned against the kitchen wall, his fatigued head thinking of ways to weasel out of the situation. If he refused her, there wouldn't be much of him left. No one really could deny that she was very beautiful, but looks weren't what mattered to Kiku. An ecstatic shout of 'That's wonderful!' resounded through the house, belonging to Ivan, and a 'What the fruitcakin' fudge?!' from Alfred. Colourful language, Kiku thought. The American stormed into the kitchen with terror in his eyes.

"Kiku!" he cried, with over-dramatised anguish. "Say it isn't so! I can't lose you so soon, buddy!"  
The raven haired student rolled his eyes and grumbled, "I'm not dying, you know."  
Alfred gave him a look, plainly saying, "You sure about that?" The realization smacked into him.  
"Oh, no!" he hissed. "You have to help me! I'll become her target for the rest of my life!"  
Alfred scratched the top of his head, thinking of solutions. One came to mind, even though it was far fetched, and possibly suicidal. "Do you trust me?" he asked.  
Kiku nodded, but then said, "Isn't this from a movie?" Alfred chuckled.  
"Yeah, it is, but whatever. I apologise in advance." Grabbing Kiku's hand, he went to the dining room and called out, "Yo, Natalya!" She turned at him, her expression souring. "Yes?"  
"I know how hot he is, but I can't let you have Keeks," he grinned and continued, "he's mine." With this, he added on something that would have made Kiku explode on the spot, if he hadn't been close to collapsing anyway. Alfred kissed him on the cheek. Kiku's face became hot, as the blood rushed to his cheeks. He involuntarily clung to Alfred, as part of the act.

Natalya, as one would expect her to, didn't scream, or cry, or pull out her knife and go on a killing spree. Her face turned pale, and she whispered, confused, "Why did he accept then?"

Alfred bit the inside of his cheek. Shit. He hadn't thought of an excuse for that. Before he could open his mouth, Kiku let him go and stepped ahead. "I didn't have the heart to refuse you, Natalya," he smiled. "You seemed so happy, it didn't feel nice to disappoint you." Natalya gave a few brisk nods of comprehension.  
"I understand," she said, poker-faced. "And if you two break up, Kiku, I'll be right there!" She gave him an intimidatingly creepy hug, thus possibly increasing his anxiety.

Ivan had been a silent spectator to the whole scenario, smiling lightly by the end. He was mildly shocked by the turn of events, but it didn't show on his face. "How long were you planning to stay, Natalya?"  
"Well, I did think the whole weekend, but honestly, I think I'll leave tonight itself…."  
"So, soon? I was hoping you could stay…." Ivan turned and sighed sadly.  
Unsure of how to react, Natalya stood like a statue for a few seconds, slightly wide-eyed, before slowly walking to her brother, and giving him a hug. "Thank you," she whispered, quiet enough for only him to hear. The Russian's eyes widened, and he gently returned her embrace.

Kiku turned to Alfred and murmured, "Thanks a lot. You really saved my life there."  
Giving him a playful nudge, Alfred replied, "No worries, dude. Hey, Nattie!" He called out to the Russian's sister. "I can call you Nattie right?" She scowled, and made a face, before spitting out, "Fine."  
Alfred grinned knowingly and said, "No one has the permission to leave Dorm 17 without having a kickass time! Wanna have a final round of Mortal Kombat?" The blonde's eye twitched, before she said, "You're on!" They sped toward the living room, with Ivan chuckling as he followed. Kiku stood in the empty dining room alone, a small smile slowly forming on his lips. Dorm 17 was full of psychos. And what amazingly warm psychos they were.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: Oh, goodness, thanks for the kind reviews. O/O And as for AmeriPan, I can't resist it, but it won't come into the story just yet. Just in case, the residents of R43 are Romania, Hong Kong and Switzerland.

The crisp yellow leaves fell to the ground, eliciting a groan from Gilbert. "West, why the hell are we raking up the leaves?" His brother glared at him sternly and replied, "Because someone needs to keep things neat around here!"

A certain red-haired Italian shouted, "Ve~! Ludwig! You need any help with those leaves?" His curl bobbed up and down as he shifted from foot to foot. It was a wonder how he managed to live life with his eyes closed. The German leaned lightly on his rake, and nodded. "The rakes are in front of the dorm, grab one."

"Okay, Captain!" Feliciano mock-saluted (that too, with the wrong hand) and ran off happily, toward the front of the house. Ludwig sighed, smiling lightly, his eyes following the young Italian, until he was out of sight. His brother cheekily glanced at him, and asked, "Oh, West~! My awesome senses are tellin' me something! Someone's caught your eye, huh?" He laughed, releasing a sound somewhere between a giggle and a hiss. Ludwig glared at him and playfully punched his shoulder. "Go back to work," he muttered, grabbing his rake.

The white-haired student was just about to get to work on a patch of yellow and orange leaves when he felt someone tap his shoulder. Turning, his reddish eyes met purple ones. "H-hey," said a soft, familiar voice. "Can I be of any help?" Matthew smiled gently. Gilbert felt blood rushing to his face as the blonde spoke. He averted his gaze and said," Rakes are in front, you can help us if you like…"

The blond nodded and said, "Okay, I'll be right back." He too left toward the front of the dorm, bumping into Feliciano while leaving. Ludwig smirked, while his brother seemed rather enthusiastic while getting to work. The Italian went up to the former and asked, "What do I do now, Captain?"  
Ludwig sighed and told him, "You don't have to call me captain, you know. There's a patch of leaves over there," he pointed to his right. "Rake them into one big pile, will you?" Feliciano got to work, not noticing his brother coming out of the house.

"Well, well, well," announced Lovino, smirking. "It seems that the macho potato has raked up a pile of leaves, huh? What a shame it would be if…," he grinned to himself cheekily. "Someone were to jump into them….Geronimo!" he dived into a massive pile of leaves, laughing as he did so.

Matthew returned from the front of the house, only to whisper, "Oh, no…" upon seeing the mess of leaves. "That wasn't very nice, Lovino…." he muttered. he muttered. "I guess I'll go clean it up…"

Gilbert seemed to jerk forward and grab Matthew's hand. "No, it's okay," he huffed. "I'll do it, West shouldn't know about this…" He smirked, making Matthew giggle. "You don't have to do it alone, you know," he breathed, his words becoming mist in the frosty air.

"GUYS! Guysguysguysguys!" A certain American nearly destroyed three neat leaf piles while charging out of the house at full speed. "I'm throwing a party!" Gilbert hissed. "We all know what happened last time you did that…"

However, Feliciano, ever exuberant, lit up and asked, "Yay! Can I do the decor again?"  
Alfred nodded, and shot Gil a look. "No drinks this time." He placed a hand on his chest. "Promise."  
The others seemed relieved at this. Alfred's face got a look of determination, and he announced, "This will be a never-before-seen Halloween party! But instead of being scary, we're gonna be cool! Today's the 29th, right?!"  
"The 30th, actually," pointed out Ludwig. Alfred's eyes widened, and he muttered, "Goddammit! I gotta start planning and inviting people now!" He ran off toward the house, screaming, "Wear the fanciest costume you've got, okay?! And keep it a surprise~!"

Lovino fell into thought. "A Halloween costume, huh?" He didn't want to look childish in a large, kiddy outfit, like a huge tomato (a significant part of him was screaming 'SI!' at the thought). He wanted to look snazzy; the kind of guy girls would look twice at, maybe gently fan themselves as they did. An idea hit him, one of the best he had ever had. "I have to make a phone call," he stated. "Come on, Feli!" He grabbed his brother's hand and pulled him into the house.

Matthew thought about what he would wear, and smiled lightly at the visuals in his head. "What do you think you'll wear?" he asked Gilbert.  
The pale-haired student shrugged and said, "I've got to have something good-looking….but West will take care of it!" He gleefully slapped his brother on the back, making the latter sigh. "Matthew," began Ludwig. "Go and tell the others about this, will you?" The Canadian nodded diligently and left.

Inside the dormitory, Kiku was listening to Vocaloid songs while reading the latest volume of Death Note. Not the best combination in a lot of people's eyes, but to the Japanese student, it was the definition of relaxation. He was humming along to the peppy tune when his Russian roommate walked in and fell into his bed. Feeling the need to make conversation, he muttered, "Have you heard about the party?" Terrible premonitions flooded the dark-haired student's mind, reminding him of past events. "Didn't we tell Alfred-kun to stop throwing them?"

Ivan nodded in response idly, and chuckled. "That won't stop him. For Halloween, he's throwing a costume party, where we're supposed to wear the fanciest things we own." Kiku could barely suppress a giggle. It was the most childish, Alfred-ish idea he had ever heard. And he loved it. He knew that no college student would own anything unbelievably fancy, unless, of course, they were thespians, so he decided to ask his parents for some advice. He sent a quick email to his mother using his phone, and hoped that she'd reply within the decade. Quite surprisingly, she replied within the hour. Kiku had just shut his manga volume, and was about to go downstairs when his phone buzzed obnoxiously.

Downstairs, Alfred was pleading into the phone. "Come on, Lizzie! You, Roderich and the guys need to come! It'll be no fun without you guys!" An angry female voice shouted at him from the other end. "Alfred Franklin Jones, if you think we are going to come to your suicide party again, you are mistaken!" She disconnected the phone, leaving Alfred to feel guilty, and look stupid.

Arthur roared with laughter from the kitchen, where he was making a cup of tea. "You git!" he shouted. "Did you really think that they would be stupid enough to attend a party from you again? You almost got the police onto us!"  
Alfred blew him a raspberry, and leaned against the poorly papered dark brown walls. Now who could he invite? With just twelve people, the party would be of medium size, but not satisfactory enough for Alfred. 14 was the minimum that he would accept. Snapping his fingers in revelation, he announced, "R43!"  
Arthur stared at him, confused. "What do you mean, R43?"  
Alfred went over to the window in the kitchen, opened the curtain and pointed at a private residence just beyond their backyard. "That's R43. The private residence just down the street. There are three people there."  
The Brit winced and asked, "What will three people do to make your party a smashing success?" Alfred shrugged.  
"I dunno. But, hey, the more the merrier, right? I'll go call 'em up!" He raced off to find the phone directory, leaving Arthur to let out an exasperated sigh at his brother's antics.

Thankfully, the three residents of R43 agreed to attend, and two of the three promised to bring a 'surprise'. The same day, the students all made a plan to receive their Halloween presents via airmail, that is, Francis' family's private jet (the students at the university, Kiku decided, were far too privileged) . Gilbert, at first, had volunteered his, before remembering that his parents were very cross with him for blowing up a chemistry lab. Alfred, to everyone's mild surprise, didn't even offer to use his family's jet. Yet again, Kiku was curious, but decided to shut up about it.

While the students slept, the private jet did its job, and Francis got a call the next morning that their outfits would be arriving by lunch. Arthur mumbled something about getting his costume infected before changing the topic. Alfred was even more exuberant that day than he usually was, his voice not becoming quieter than 60 decibels. Just about an hour before the party was set to start, the sky was already showing dark patches as the sun slowly left the world at the mercy of spirits and ghosts. There was a lot of excited chatter, including a very frightened Feliciano who was clinging to Ludwig with every word. The decorations had been arranged for by Yao and Ivan, and the food was handled by Matthew and Francis. This division of labour kept the residents so occupied that they didn't notice the large 'Bonnefoy' truck right outside the dorm. After it finished honking about three times, Francis wiped off flour from his hand on a towel and and quickly went to answer the door. "Get your costumes!" he announced, as a worker from the truck set the three large crates out in the entrance hallway. All the clothes had been neatly packed with wrapping paper, along with notes from the families.

Kiku retrieved his to find a note in Japanese, that said, "This is your grandfather's old navy uniform. Send me a picture of yourself in it, okay? Have fun!" He smiled, making a mental note to take plenty of photographs. He ran upstairs to get to the bathroom first in order to change. He shut the sturdy door, and unwrapped the parcel carefully, removing the layers of brown paper, to reveal pure white. He lifted it up to admire it more. A silky white coat, with a golden and black collar and sleeves, and golden epaulets with a pair of matching white dress pants, and a purple cloak to go along with it. Kiku remembered seeing his grandfather's portraits with his fellow commanders, wearing the exact same outfit. It felt like a having a bit of history with him. He slipped it on, surprised at how oddly comfortable it was. Fastening the cloak, he called, "I'm coming out!" only to be replied to with a laugh.  
"Go ahead, dude!" said Alfred, who had been changing outside. As Kiku pushed open the door, the first thing he saw was a leather boot, which two large hands forcing it on a foot. As Kiku's line of sight expanded, he took in the rest of the picture. Tight blue jeans, a plain white shirt, a brown vest with a little golden star on it, and a large hat. Alfred had dressed as an all-American cowboy. For a second, the blond stared at the Japanese student in awe, as he had never seen the latter in such formal clothing. "Wow, you look…" He took some time to finish his sentence. "Awesome. Uh, I mean...well, y'do sure look darn great in that getup, partner!" Kiku chuckled at the accent. "Why, thank you, Alfred-kun, you look brilliant. Now, we need to tell Ivan that the bathroom is vacant."

In perfect timing, Ivan walked in at that very moment, grinning at his roommates. "You look great, you two!"  
Kiku thanked him modestly with a smile, and said, "You should get dressed too." Ivan nodded and went into the bathroom, humming something. Alfred grabbed Kiku's hand,and said, "Come on! I think everyone's already downstairs!"

The two descended the flight of stairs quickly, the costumes thankfully not restricting movement. Just as they came onto the ground floor, they heard a roar and saw a sword, less than 3 inches from their throats, wielded by Arthur. He had on a stunningly elaborate red pirate's coat, complete with feathered hat and fake sword. 'Where did you get that outfit?" mumbled Kiku, getting over his initial shock.

Arthur gave a humourless laugh and said, "I did a lot of play-acting in high school, you know! Ask Alfred!"  
The American smirked and suggested, "You should've worn the maid outfit, Limeypants!", making the Brit blush deeply.  
"Sh-shut up, you pervert!" ejaculated Arthur angrily. "My sword may be made of wood, but I can still smash it on your head!" Kiku slipped away from the Englishman, still holding his roommate's hand. While leading him away, he noticed Francis chatting up Yao, wearing a pair of puffy trousers tucked into boots, and a vest with the fleur-de-lis printed on it. An empty sheath designed for a musketeer, hung on his belt.

In the family room, speakers that Gilbert had installed were playing loud music, while the aforementioned was chatting with Matthew. The white haired German had worn an old fashioned emperor's outfit, somewhat similar to Arthur's, but blue instead of red. His companion was wearing a rather classic outfit, one often associated with Canada. The red uniform of a mountie. Granted, when the timid Matthew wore it, he looked considerably stronger and intimidating than he normally did. His boots made Gilbert feel shorter and less dominant, which was incredibly rare for him. But he didn't really mind it…  
His brother had worn a folk dress often worn in Germany, looking rather scary, for the dress didn't really suit him. After giving him a glance, Gilbert sighed, and thought, 'If he wanted to spend time with Feliciano, he could've worn something a bit less…eccentric…" The Italian brothers were taking an awful lot of time to get dressed, strangely. Antonio had been waiting at the bottom of the stairs for Lovino, who seemed to be interesting to the Spaniard. The green-eyed brunette had worn a bullfighter's costume, which made Arthur almost reprimand him for, as it placed far too much emphasis on his posterior (what Arthur called it).

Just as Ludwig was going up to fetch them with Antonio, Feliciano and Lovino made their grand entrance. And what a grand entrance it was, for nearly everyone who witnessed it felt their mouths drop open. The Vargas brothers were dressed in pearl white suits and shirts with red ties. Both had sunglasses on, and a gun in each hand. As stereotypical as anything could get, the two Italians had dressed up as members of the mafia. It was now the German's turn to feel uneasy, as they brandished their guns at the crowd. "Don't worry, guys, they're fake!" said Feliciano, while his brother felt like strangling him. "Idiota!" scolded Lovino. "I could've threatened to shoot everyone!"

Antonio chuckled at the Italian's outburst and told him, "Guns don't really suit you, Lovi~"  
"What the bloody hell, jerk?! Who gave you the right to call me Lovi, dammit!?"  
"Hmm? I kinda gave the right to myself. But it doesn't matter, you can call me Toni if you like!"  
Lovino turned away, annoyed and muttered, "Why would I do that…?"

The party was progressing rather slowly, considering the twelve people hung out in groups of three, or pairs. The music seemed to be dull, even though it was blaring so much that standing within three feet of the speaker could deafen you. Conversation progressed mechanically, until a shout of 'Aiyaa!' broke the air, and attracted everyone's attention. The sound had come from the dining room, so that was where the twelve gathered. "What on earth is the matter, Yao?!" asked Arthur frantically.

"Ivan said I look like a Chinese princess, aru!" The dark haired student was wearing a long red gown with golden embroidery on it. To someone who knew just the tiniest bit about Chinese culture would've agreed with the Russian. However, Yao looked like a prince, obviously, not a princess.  
"What did I say wrong?!" The Russian was blushing madly, even the tips of his ears were red. Wearing a Russian cossack uniform, he was definitely the one best dressed for the chilly winter. The toy gun strapped to his was far too realistic looking, and made him look even more intimidating than he really was. "You are looking like a princess, Yao!" The mentioned cried out again.  
"Calm down," interjected Arthur. "Now, we need to figure out what's the confusion…"  
"There is no confusion," replied Ivan. "She looks like a princess."  
Exactly two minutes of silence followed this line before Yao weakly muttered, "Sh-she…?"

Ivan weakly nodded and whispered, "You are a girl, aren't you?"  
Alfred controlled a snigger, and told the Russian, "Dude, Yao was a guy the whole time!"  
Realization hit Arthur and he spoke up, "Ivan, you were the last person to arrive at the dorm, right? After Yao and the Vargas brothers? Because, Yao had cleared it up after he arrived that he was male. But you weren't there…"  
"So you didn't know," finished Ludwig. At this point, Ivan was deathly pale, and said a simple, "Oh."  
The silence returned, before Francis said, "In Ivan's defense, you do look very feminine." Immediately after this, he was hit by the Chinese student's fan, as Arthur chuckled.

"Let's just let it go, guys," said Alfred. He turned to his right, only to find Kiku missing. He glanced from side to side a few times, and dashed through the rooms, thinking it to be very easy to find a pure white-clad person. It was, but in an unexpected way. Kiku was sitting on the grass in the backyard, gazing up at the moon. The American snuck out of the party, and got out, breathing in the fresh air before taking a seat next to him. "Whatcha lookin' at?" he asked.  
Kiku gave a faint, elderly smile and replied, "The moon is unusually bright tonight. Do you know, just like how Americans think the moon is made of cheese, the Japanese think that the moon has rabbits on it?"  
Alfred laughed. "Really? Wow, that's weird…" He began inspecting the moon more closely. "Although…I can kinda imagine it…"  
Praying that he wouldn't notice, the Japanese student glanced at his roommate and felt his cheeks become hot. In the moonlight, he really did look like a dashing, somber hero, ready to risk his life of the greater good of his people. Although he was an egomaniac, there was a certain aura of sincerity that surrounded him, something the brunette truly did appreciate. He inched closer to the blond, hoping to remain inconspicuous. Alfred was typically bad at catching hints, but he definitely caught this one. He attempted to play it cool, turning away as to not let the moon illuminate his cheeks.

Just as everything seemed perfect and still, a loud explosion resounded through the air, making the two fall forward due to impact. Their head whipped round, and they gasped in unison to see a red fog pouring out of the dorm. Kiku was the first to get up, due to his agility, and he cut through the mist to enter into the dorm, the smoky sting making his eyes water.

"Happy Halloween~" cooed a terrifying voice. "Tonight is the night of doom…" Alfred caught up with the Japanese student, huffing and puffing through the smoke.  
"Looks…like…R43…" He couldn't find the strength to say anything more.  
A face leaped out from behind the fog, pale and thin, with vampiric fangs bared. The American gave out a high pitched scream and leaped on Kiku, who almost toppled over with his weight.  
The face laughed, and some of the fog around it dissolved into nothing. The face was revealed to be a person, wearing a long cloak and a bowler hat, tilted on his light brown hair. "Sorry!" he said, still cracking up. "I wasn't that scary, was I? The name's Vlad…" He pretended to look innocent as he patted the American on the back. "By the way," he turned around. "Nice touch with the fireworks, Leon!"

"Thanks," muttered a voice as another figure stepped out from the mist. A dark haired boy with long strands on either side of his face, and an expressionless face. He was wearing an outfit similar to Yao's, albeit it was less elaborate. Behind the two, was a third guest, in a t-shirt and jeans, who seemed to have missed the memo about the fancy dresses. "Ve~" Feliciano popped out from behind him. "Why aren't you wearing a costume, Mister?"  
The young student gruffly responded, "The name's not Mister, it's Vash. And I didn't wear an outfit because I didn't feel like it." He huffed exasperatedly and went off to get a snack.

"Um, okay," said Alfred, partially wishing that he hadn't invited more people if they were going to make an entrance like that (not to mention they totally ruined a moment!). "It's only the three of you, right?" he asked Leon, who responded with a nod. "Well, then…have fun…I guess?" Alfred went up to the speaker and turned up the music, feeling a little less enthusiastic than better.

Kiku had been watching the scene as an innocent bystander (that is, until Alfred jumped on him in fright) but couldn't help but feel a sad pang in his stomach, faintly reminiscent of the time he'd lost his shot at winning an Olympiad. But, his academics were perfectly fine…what else could the Japanese student not only think, but also worry about, besides studies? Confused, Kiku decided to let it be, and spend some more time chatting up the residents of Dorm 17 and R43.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, faves and follows! And yes, Alfred and Arthur's parents are 2P!England (minus the homicidal tendencies) and Fem!England.

As winter began closing in slowly on Dorm 17, the students were forced to sleep with two or three layers of thin bedsheets until the academy arranged for more substantial comfort from the cold. The blessed ones who could sleep comfortably in the 7 degree Celsius weather were Matthew and Ivan, both of which, they claimed, hailed from exceptionally cold places.

Obviously, it was impossible for all the students to be satisfied with the small number of bedsheets, and due to his lack of swiftness, Francis was left with the short end of the stick, having to spend his sleepless nights with a single, pathetically thin layer. Needless to say, these were the rare times that Arthur Kirkland was happy to be alive. One fine morning in early December, Ivan opened his eyes, not wanting to get out of his rather comfortable bed. He barely gathered up energy to turn his head and glance toward the nearest window. His sleepy eyes blinked a few times, unable to believe themselves. The glass of the window was white and opaque. Although it wasn't something everyone would do, Ivan casually opened up the window to see what was happening. He looked down, expecting the pale green grass that didn't survive the winter. But what he found was pale white. Practically everything seemed to be covered by a thick layer of whipped cream. Flat whipped cream, that is. His semi-functional brain put two and two together, and he let out an ecstatic giggle. "It snowed!" he shouted happily. Alfred immediately seemed to stir at the words, and mumbled incoherently. "Snow?" was the only thing Ivan picked up, after a few sentences. Ivan nodded and replied, "It snowed overnight."

Alfred grunted in acknowledgement and turned on his side. "Snow..," he whispered. "Snow!" he shouted, suddenly understanding. He weaseled out of his sheets and rushed to Kiku's side. "Keeks!" he called out excitedly. "It snowed, dude!" Kiku's eyes fluttered open, and he smiled slightly. "Really? I haven't played in the snow for so long…" Alfred grinned and yanked the Japanese student's bedsheets off. "Come on! Hurry up!" he whined like a three year old, giving Kiku the urge to pat him on the head. The student got out of bed and rushed to the bathroom.

Over the course of the next 6 hours, all the students were done with their classes. Upon their arrival at the dorm, they immediately chucked their notes into their rooms and came out to enjoy the weather. Within seconds, Lovino and Feliciano had begun a snowball fight with Ludwig and Gilbert, Matthew and Ivan were making snow angels and Alfred was beginning work on a massive, monumental snowman. But, obviously, the young American paid no heed to the laws of physics, which is why it came crumbling down upon him in a matter of minutes. Kiku had been sitting and smiling at his antics for a while, making organized little rice balls of snow. Just when he was going to get up, something hit him on the back. His head whipped around, only to see Arthur standing above him, snowball in hand. "There's no point just sitting there, you know."

"Well, then, Arthur-kun, I challenge you to a snowball fight," said Kiku between chuckles. He got up, and grabbed one of his 'riceballs', shaping it in his palms firmly. With a fairly strong throw, he managed to strike the Brit on his collarbone, making him tremble. "Cold!" he squeaked. Grabbing a snowball of his own, he was just about to strike when a force knocked him down from behind, bringing him to his knees. He steadied himself and turned, only to see a mildly familiar face. Sparkling blue eyes, a constant cheeky grin and spiked hair that defied every principle of Physics known to man. Mathias Kohler. Arthur sneered and got up, eager to face off against the new opponent. Being as swift as possible, he threw a snowball, smacking his neighbor in the face. Mathias smirked and hissed, "It's on." Almost immediately, a war broke out between the two. Kiku had slipped away from the madness, and was spotted by a cheerful young man, whose name came to the Japanese student's mind after about five seconds of eye contact.  
"Tino, right? You are Tino Vainamoinen?" inquired Kiku. Tino smiled warmly and nodded, bending down to get some snow. "Wanna have a match?" Kiku shrugged and got into a fighting stance. Within seconds, Yao joined the fight on Tino's side, creating trouble for the Japanese student. The Team Rocket 'Prepare for trouble and make it double' quote was playing in his head, making him fairly nervous. Giving up, he ran behind a tree for cover, hearing Yao's snickers.

Just then, a booming voice shouted, "Surprise, bastards!" and knocked down both Yao and Tino with three shots each. Coming out from behind the trunk, Kiku looked to see that Lovino was the one responsible. "Thanks," he said to the Italian, only to be knocked down immediately. A cruel laugh resounded through the air, along with a hiss of, "No mercy!" as Lovino ran to conquer more prey. The Japanese student smacked himself and muttered, "Get it together, man," before standing up and going off to do something else, that is, try not to get killed. He walked over to Matthew and Ivan, happy to have finally found some peace. Soon, Arthur staggered over to the three, looking beaten and exhausted, after his battle with Mathias. "Charming, isn't it?' he asked Kiku, who nodded in response.

Just then, another familiar student spotted Arthur and raised a hand in greeting. Lighting up slightly, the Englishman smiled and got up. "Lukas!" he called out, as he approached the Norwegian, and began chatting with him about something Kiku was too far away to hear. He fell onto the snow, sighing and staring up toward the light, baby blue sky. Life was perfect.

Soon, Berwald and Emil, who had been behind their dorm mates, reached the scene as well, almost making it feel like a party. Minus the loud music, dancing and debauchery, of course. .Almost immediately upon their arrival, Berwald was playfully challenged by Ivan to a fight. All those who were slightly uncomfortable around Ivan would have been downright horrified with Berwald, who seemed far scarier than the Russian. Arguably, the scariest person on the entire lawn was Tino, who seemed fairly comfortable around the both of them. Snowball fights broke out all over the place, with people switching sides faster than Italian troops. Even poor Kiku got involved, facing off against Gilbert and Alfred first, then Arthur, and then Ivan. People laughed, made snowmen, pushed each other onto the snow, and stuffed it down each other's shirts, having the time of their lives. All was fun and games, until Feliciano felt an icy drop of something on his nose. Glancing toward the sky, all he saw were light, white flakes, falling like rain Closing his eyes and smiling contentedly, he told the rest, "Guys! It's snowing again!" The other frolickers' attention turned to the weather as well.

Mathias sighed and announced, "Let's go inside now; playtime's over." In a sad, somber tone. The students obeyed the Dane's command, and gathered together in the dining room (the family room was too small for all of them to be seated). Matthew volunteered to prepare some hot chocolate for everyone, and Tino agreed to help him, bringing Berwald along.

"That was amazing, aru," muttered Yao, leaning back in his chair. "It got even better when you all came!" A faint smile was seen on Emil's face after he was addressed. "Seconded," stated Arthur as he turned to Lukas. "Not this time, but one of these days we'll definitely find a snow faerie!" Lukas nodded firmly, while Alfred teased," Seeing things again, Artie?" only to receive a sharp smack. Berwald, Tino and Matthew returned from the kitchen holding hearty mugs of hot chocolate on blue plastic trays.

Mathias was the first to snatch a mug, taking a deep swig of it, as though it were a tankard of beer. The rest grabbed their mugs and made small talk. About academics, and what they would do after college. Some, naturally, chose not to talk about such depressingly intimidating subjects, and moved on to discussing their plans for Christmas, which was just a week or so away.

Tino perked up at once, telling everyone about Christmas traditions at home, in Finland, about the different dishes and how going to the sauna was apparently really important (that was an idea Francis didn't mind at all). The Frenchman proceeded to talk about how his Christmases were, getting shut up by Alfred the moment he mentioned food. "Here in the US of Awesome, you hafta pig out on Christmas Eve! Heck, I almost ate a whole turkey last year!" Kiku's eyes widened. Western people were so weird. "Well, in Japan, not many people celebrate Christmas as….flamboyantly as you all do, but they think of it as an occasion to get together with friends and family."

Alfred sighed nostalgically, his eyes focused on nothing in particular. "Speaking of Christmas," began Tino. "Why don't we all gather here and celebrate!?" He exclaimed so loudly that the rest of the students overheard. But, the idea was received graciously, with excited cheers and light smiles. The American's eyes fluttered toward the Finn, and then to the rest, before going back to their dull state. Tino giggled at the reception and added," We could even Skype with our families!" This snapped Alfred out of his daze, his eyes widening. He violently whispered, "No, no, no, no!" Clearing his throat, he continued with a sheepish look plastered on his face. "I mean…it'll be too much hassle! Let's just send them emails or something!" While some gave him suspicious looks, most murmured in agreement. Lovino was the first to speak up. "I don't think I could face Nonno with the marks I got in the unit tests…." Gilbert chuckled and patting him on the back understandingly.

"So, it's settled, then?" piped up Antonio. "For Christmas, you're all coming over again?" The guests from Dorm 16 nodded. "Okay, then!" Antonio grinned at the rest of the students. "You guys don't have to stay here, feel free to roam around." They obeyed, taking their hot chocolate and going either to their rooms, or to the family room. Strangely, Kiku noticed that Alfred had gone up to his room with no hesitation. Mildly curious, Kiku followed him, hoping to remain unnoticed. Just as he reached the first floor, Alfred turned, and sighed upon spotting Kiku, who stood absolutely still, not wanting to say anything. Giving a sad, very un-Alfred smile, he ignored the Japanese student entirely and pulled open the door to his room, sighing slightly. Kiku was already feeling guilty for following the American; even his desire to know had died out. He was just about to join the others back downstairs, only to give a small squeak of surprise, when he heard something heavy hit the ground in Alfred's room, followed by a grunt. On instinct, the brunet ran into his room, only to find Alfred curled up on his bed with his face buried in his hands, and a large hardcover book face down on the floor, wide open. Kiku immediately went up to his roommate, who was barely breathing and sat next to him. "What happened, Alfred-kun?" he asked, taking a seat.

Seeing the book sprawled out on the floor, he felt obligated to pick it up out of courtesy. Getting up, he walked over to the book and inspected the cover with his eyes. Hardbound, and a dark maroon, with the spine having a golden design of curls on it. There was no text whatsoever on it, just a pattern. As he was lifting it off the carpeted floor, a thin photograph slipped out of its thick pages and fell on the floor gracefully. Its edges were torn, which signified that it was rather old. Kiku's light hand gently held it up, to see a family photograph. Judging by the costumed passerby behind the main presence in the photograph, the family was at Disneyland. Two parents and three children. The blonde mother looked stern, trying to look less so with hair in youthful pigtails, and thin glasses on the bridge of her nose, concealing sparkling green eyes. The other was a cheerful looking man, dressed in unusually bright clothing and having light, ginger-ish hair. He had thick eyebrows, almost exactly like those of Arthur, but blue eyes, rather than green. Definitely, they were his parents. A young boy, off to the far left, seemed to be distracted by something. Clutching a white teddy bear close to him, he had a blissful smile on his face. To anyone who had ever met him, it wouldn't have been much effort to know that this was Matthew Williams. Next to him was an exceptionally irked boy, who seemed to be scolding the third child in the picture, who was cheerfully licking an ice-cream cone. Arthur and Alfred. A family photograph. It made Kiku give a small smile. "Are these your parents?" he asked in a soft tone. Alfred muttered, "Yeah", as a weak response. The brunet turned to look at him, only to see that the tip of the American's nose had turned a light reddish-pink, something Kiku knew only happened to people when they were about to cry.

Abandoning the book, he went up to the bed and placed a hand on Alfred's back. "What's the matter?" he asked gently. "Are you alright?" The concern was slowly creeping up into his voice. When the American didn't respond, and just raised his head lightly, Kiku shed all his insecurity for a split second, and looked him in the eye. "Alfred, tell me!" His voice was raised to the point of being harsh. Surprised by the Japanese student's sudden outburst, Alfred glanced up at him in slight shock, before weakly chuckling and whispering, "It'll just depress you….do you really wanna know…? I guess I could tell you…" Kiku nodded eagerly, his face gravely serious.

"I trust you to not tell anyone, okay, Keeks? Anywhoo, it's a really long story, so you'd better listen up….my parents divorced about one and a half years ago…no one was expecting it, obviously, but for some reason it hit me more than it hit Arthur. I guess he was more mature, or whatever….anyway, he moved away to England with Dad, and I lived with Mom. Ever since middle school, I sorta….didn't really pay attention to studies to try to pursue something in sports. Until my senior year, I was awesome at basketball, winning medals every month." He smiled faintly, pleased at his achievements, before slipping back into a faint frown. "So, anyway, in my senior year, I had a basketball tournament to attend in Munich, where teams all over the world would participate. My mom told me that if I won Best Player, she'd let me be guided by a professional coach instead of going to college. But I didn't…."

Kiku understood immediately. It wasn't Alfred who won the trophy. "Ivan," he muttered. All of a sudden, the enmity felt by the duo immediately became partially, if not wholly justified. Alfred massaged his eyes, possibly trying to clean them, before continuing. "So, my mom was furious, 'cause, you know, I'd totally bombed all of my subjects just to train for this tournament, and got nothing but a shitty silver medal. So, she said some pretty mean things to me, and..," he choked on his own words while speaking and sniffled. "She said….she wished she'd won Arthur's custody…."

Kiku felt a sort of sharp pain in his chest, knowing how harsh it would have been to have been told that. Inching closer, he gulped and gave his roommate a hug, strangely not feeling awkward at all. He wasn't used to physical contact, so he usually hated being hugged, and rudely pushed people off due to instinct, but this one time, he realized why Westerners thought hugging was comforting. Alfred's hand went limp at his sides as he thought of how to react, and decided upon hugging back within seconds. While in the crushing hug (Alfred was indeed very muscular), Kiku said something which came out rather muffled. "Does this have anything to do with you picking Math?" Alfred laughed weakly, regaining his exuberance. "Sort of. I want to prove to my mom that I'm not useless." Kiku scoffed, and replied. "You're not useless, Alfred-kun."

Another laugh resounded through the room. "Thanks, dude. But you need to help me with my Math, okay? You're way smarter than me at that stuff. Now, don't tell anyone about this, I don't need anyone to know I got dissed by my mom in senior year. Well, Artie and Matt already know, so you can tell them I told you. You're one of us now!" He slapped Kiku on the back painfully, for the second time that term. "So, you wanna go downstairs or what?" Before Kiku could reply, a painful cry came from the first floor. "YOU FROG!" Both of them rushed out the door to see what the matter was, only to come down to hysterical laughing, as Arthur wiped frosting off his face, a deadly expression on it. Francis had almost reached the point of tears, holding a bottle of the stuff in his hand. "It's meant for the cake, you twit!" Francis coolly replied, "It's for things that need sweetening, and you're on the top of that list!" And Alfred added," He's got a point, Limeypants."

Arthur glared at them both to the best of his ability. "I've already thought of gifts for you both," he murmured, smiling sweetly. "You'll love them, I guarantee it." He flipped off the two and stomped up to his room, leaving the students on the first floor to chuckle a little, all wishing that Christmas would come sooner.


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: My exams are over thank holy pineapple (?). It's way too early for a Christmas special, but thanks for the faves, follows, and reviews yet again :3 I'm tinkering with the idea of a slightly sadder SpUK fanfic right now….

"Watch it!" hissed the Italian, as Antonio reached a little over the former's head to hang up an ornament. "Siento!" The Spaniard grinned as he managed to string the little golden ball to a branch. It was the 24th of December, and the residents of Dorm 17 were going mad. The guests they had invited from Dorm 16 would be arriving in a few hours, and the students were putting their all into making sure that they felt welcome. Ludwig and Gilbert were hanging up tinsel, Yao was being taught the recipes for puddings and cakes by Francis, Kiku, Matthew and Feliciano were wrapping up presents, cleverly placed in cardboard boxes, so that the students would find out what they were, Alfred, Antonio, Lovino and Ivan were decorating the tree, and Arthur was supposedly doing the most important job, delegating orders while having a cup of warm tea on the couch. "Careful that you don't fall on the tree, Alfred," teased Arthur. The American was trying his best to be nicer to Ivan on Kiku's advice, and giving him a disturbing fake smile as they worked on the pine together. It was rather difficult, but Berwald and Ivan successfully combined their strengths to get the tree inside. They had to chop off a decent part off the top of the tree, thus making it about as tall as their shoulders. But considering the Russian and the Swede's height, that too was a considerable measurement, just about as tall as Kiku, if not even taller. Regardless, they were thankful for the winter break; at least no classes to worry about.

"It's done!" A happy, shrill voice came from the kitchen, as Yao walked out with a perfectly frosted cake, with gorgeously crafted sugar flowers and leaves. Alfred gasped and spasmed a little upon seeing it, only to be shot down by the Chinese student's glare. "Alfred, no, aru," said Yao decisively. "This cake isn't for you! It's for everyone!" Alfred pouted and turned to the tree. Ivan giggled and commented, "Smells great!" Yao nodded, taking a long whiff himself. "Francis, how much longer will the gingerbread take, aru?" The Frenchman replied, "6 minutes!"

Alfred had reached his peak at the moment, and had begun involuntarily whimpering like a puppy, making Arthur chuckle. "Honestly, Alfred, it's obvious why you're single…you treat food with greater respect than people. " Alfred chuckled and murmured, "I won't even deny it, bro. Now, get your ass off the couch and do something! Don't be like that guy from 4 Men in a Ship!" Arthur hissed with repulsion. "Three Men in A Boat, to say nothing of the dog, you illiterate baboon..." he corrected. Grabbing a box of ornaments, he began working on the tree alongside his brother.

Feliciano bounded down the stairs with three bags in his arms, and a backpack slung on his shoulders. The students had made up a very meticulous gift exchange system, ensuring that each student got at least two presents, from their roommates. And of course, small gifts for the friends from Dorm 16. Of course, siblings would naturally feel obliged to give each other presents as well, so that left Ludwig, Lovino, Feliciano and Gilbert with three presents each, and Arthur, Alfred and Matthew with four. Kiku would give and receive two, a modest number that he was content with. After all, the Japanese student went through a lot of mental trauma to just decide what to give Ivan and Alfred. He had finally decided on a foot high movable figurine of Alfred's favourite anime character, and a set of 3 elegant bowls for Ivan. For Berwald, Tino and the rest, Kiku had looked them up online, and drawn them in the style of Japanese shounen manga. That would be a nice enough gift, right?

But what was really driving the student insane was what Ivan and Alfred would be giving him. If Kiku listed all the possibilities he thought of, he could've written a book. Every single time the subject of presents was brought up, he'd try his best to forget about his expectations, but he couldn't. So, he tried to spend his energy by aimlessly walking around the house while the rest of the students gave him confused looks, but he was completely oblivious to anything but his thoughts. While he descended the stairs behind Feliciano, his eyes met Alfred's, somehow causing both of them to turn away.

Ever since Alfred had spilled out his secrets, the two had become oddly awkward with each other. They would just wake up and give each other mechanical nods of greeting, before going on with the day's tasks. Kiku didn't understand it, and he really didn't like things he couldn't fathom. But life went on for the dorm, and the awkward glances shared by the two soon became a part of everyday routine. If only they were a little less common. The two made eye contact at least thrice every hour if they were within 30 feet of each other, and awake. Kiku soon decisively thought that all this had to stop, so he mustered up courage and went up to his roommate. In order to act casual and friendly, smiled, and greeted, "Hey, Alfred-kun." Taking notice of him, the American glanced his way, smiled slightly and replied, "Hey. You done with the wrapping?" Kiku nodded and held up his bag of presents a little higher to emphasize. The blond grinned and said," Can't wait, man!"

As the students were finishing up with their work, the doorbell rang. Their guests were fairly early, bustling through the doors, carrying bags of presents. Their scarves flew behind them, as they removed their heavy jackets, throwing them on the floor without much regard. With nearly all the students wearing bright sweaters, the scene was quite colorful. There was an awful lot of sentimental hugging that Arthur, Lovino, Ludwig and Kiku chose not to partake in, before the seventeen students all managed to occupy some amount of space in the family room, crowding around and babbling among themselves. Mugs of eggnog were passed around, and everything was going well, until, of course, the students all realized that they technically weren't doing anything. "How about caroling?" suggested Gilbert.

Tino nodded and said, "I'll be happy to sing! Anyone with me?" Unsure murmurs rose from the crowd, before Alfred broke the silence. "I vote Kiku!" A wave of terror washed over the raven-haired student. "C-come again…?" he muttered weakly. Before Alfred could repeat himself, Tino's oddly strong arms pulled Kiku off the ground and straightened him up. Sharing a final glance with the crowd, Tino began his song.

_"Dashing through the snow,_  
_in a one horse open sleigh,_  
_o'er the fields we go,_  
_laughing all the way!"_

He gave Kiku a slight nudge as a cue, making the student instinctively continue.

_"Waraigoe wo,_  
_yuki ni makeba, _  
_Akarui hikari no,_  
_hana ni naru yo!"_

He bit his lip. Out of habit, he'd sung the second stanza in his mother tongue. He felt the blood rushing to his face, as he averted his eyes from the confused students. The room was terrifyingly silent until two soft voices emerged, slowly raising in volume. They belonged to Feliciano and Lovino.

_"Jingle bells, jingle bells_  
_suona jingle bells_  
_tintinnando nei cammin_  
_le campanelle d'or!"_

Antonio joined the Italians to make Kiku feel better.

"_Navidad, Navidad,_  
_porque ya nació ,_  
_ayer noche, Nochebuena,_  
_el niñito Dios!"_

One by one, they all went through all the different carols they could think of, from 'Away in a Manger' to 'Silent Night' to 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas'. While the students were distracted by the singing, Alfred crawled next to Kiku and whispered, "Keeks, listen up.." The Japanese student leaned slightly toward his roommate, and jerked his head upwards in inquiry.

With a satisfied snort, Alfred whispered, "I spiked Artie's eggnog~" Kiku took in a deep breath and hissed, "You did what?!" Arthur was already looking a bit tipsy, with his head not staying still. "Oh, you're evil, Alfred kun…" Giving his roommate a wink, the American purred, "I know~" before inching back toward his brother to get a better view of the apocalypse that was soon to come. All Kiku could do was wait for the situation to deteriorate.

They decided to leave the food for a bit later and move on to the presents immediately, much to Francis' and Yao's dismay. Kiku couldn't help but feel a smidgen of pity on them, they'd been slaving on the stoves since the early hours. Alfred demanded to be the first to open his presents. He'd gotten 5 in total, from the guests of Dorm 16, Arthur, Matthew, Ivan and Kiku. From Berwald, he was handed a large present, dedicated to the entire dorm, which apparently, they had all pitched in to get. Arthur and Feliciano offered to help Alfred carry it, and open it as well. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the whole dorm gasped. It was the wood sculpture of a massive wolf, painted and even signed at the bottom, by all the students of Dorm 16, even the ones who didn't come. It almost brought Francis to tears.

"This calls for a group hug!" called out Feliciano excitedly, before practically leaping onto Ludwig, bringing his brother close behind him. _Group hug? More like muddle of uncomfortable itchy sweaters, _thought Kiku. He decided to stay and watch the hug without partaking in it himself. He should've known that the 'no touchy' approach to things would work on such weird roommates. He was roped in and crushed between Lukas and Gilbert, trying his best to breathe. Alfred would have lingered in the hug a bit longer, before he remembered that he had other presents to open. "Listen up! You guys open your presents and I'll open mine!" The students took off and inspected the name tags on the gifts. The American, meanwhile, reached for Arthur's present, glancing at the card on it and laughing. "'Merry Christmas, ho bloody ho'? Did you write that on everybody's presents?"

"Of course, I did! No one deserves Christmas cheer!" Arthur leaned against the wall, hands in his pockets, sighing in melancholy. It was obvious that the drink was catching up on him. Alfred ripped apart the present brutally, before opening it to find three books, and sighing. "7 years in a row, Artie...might want to think of more original gift ideas." As he pulled out the books, he heard a chuckle behind him. The instant he got a glimpse of the cover, he groaned. "Very funny, Arthur, hope you're happy with yourself." He flipped through the first book's pages. "B for bear? Really, what's next? I can't wait...ooh, it's C for Cat!" He clutched his chest in mock surprise and said, "Oh, I wonder what comes next? D for douche?" he asked. "Don't be so rude!" Arthur gave him a hurt look before leaving the room.

"Okay, movin' on to Mattie's..." He picked up the second present, with light green wrapping paper, and opened it up to see a large white teddy bear, with a scarf around its neck, and a holly leaf on its head. "Aww...!" Alfred gave it a hug and mumbled, "So cute!" Suddenly aware of the fact that 15 people were staring at him, he immediately put the bear back into its box and and cleared his throat. "Wow, Matt, I can't believe you'd think I still play with such childish toys." He mouthed 'thank you so much' to his cousin before moving on to Kiku's present. The Japanese student gulped and straightened his red pullover. "I hope you like it," he muttered.

Alfred unwrapped this one more gently than he did the rest, and pulled out the Sasuke figurine. "Sweet! Oh, Keeks, this is so awesome. How did you know I liked this guy?" Kiku gave a small smile and replied, "I just guessed...he seems like a character you'd like..." "Holy crapola, it moves!" Alfred began messing around with the statue, making the joints move unnaturally. "Alfred-kun, you'll break it!" With a light laugh, Kiku reached for the statue and out it back in the box. "Let's make sure it lasts for at least a week, hai?"Alfred gave him a sheepish look before moving on to Ivan's massive present. It was almost three times the size of Kiku's present, and the second largest. Alfred opened this one with considerably less excitement than the others, as Ivan stood next to Kiku in silence.

Alfred felt something cold and sonorous, and pulled it out, only for it to be a trophy. A jumping athlete, with a basketball, leaping to score a basket. It was the trophy Alfred wanted to win. But why had Ivan given Alfred something with his name on it? As the American inspected the trophy, his face betrayed no emotion, rather unusual. He had a shocked spasm upon seeing the name on the golden inscription. "Alfred F. Jones, Team USA...IBA champion...?" He gave a gulp and asked, "Didn't you win this?"

Ivan smiled and shook his head. "I didn't win this. We did. I had the trophy rebuilt with your name on it. It's made of the same metal too...do you like it?" Kiku was smiling widely by this point, even though Alfred hadn't responded. All the blond did was stand, stare at Ivan, almost apprehensively, before giving him a hug. It was quite a hilarious sight, if Kiku could've been honest. Ivan was like a large baby, shocked, and Alfred was hugging him almost angrily, but the height difference was what made things odd.

"I'll open my presents next, hai?" Alfred and Ivan turned to their roommate and nodded. Before going over to check the name tags, Kiku found his present for Ivan and handed it to him. Ivan unwrapped it gently, scared to drop it, considering how heavy it was. He blushed ever so slightly upon seeing the crockery, and muttered, "Spacibo, Kiku..." , as the Japanese student just smiled. His peaceful state of mind was harshly destroyed by Alfred shout of 'Open my gift first!' Rolling his eyes, Kiku picked up the present Alfred was pointing toward. He was such a little kid.

Upon opening it, it was no exaggeration to say that Kiku gasped in delight. Inside the present were three vintage comic book omnibuses, and served as proof that Alfred really had been listening when Kiku talked about wanting to get to know American comics. "These must've cost a fortune, Alfred-kun.." The American shook his head dismissively and responded, "They actually belonged to my uncle, when he was a teen. He passed them down to me like an inheritance or something. I need to pass a few on to my kids too." There was odd conviction in his voice as he said so.

"Really, Arthur?!" Behind them, Francis was glaring at the green-eyed student, who was incredibly intoxicated at this point. "Why'd you give me '1000 Years of Annoying the French'?" Arthur became aware of Francis' existence and slurred, "It's a great book, you French fry!"

Kiku only had two presents, which is why he decided to distribute the drawings he's made of the guests from Dorm 16 to them. He brought out the bag of sketches, which was buried under the tree. As he walked around the dorm distributing the presents to where necessary, he wasn't aware of the commotion ensuing in the dining room. Once he had finished playing Santa (and gotten extremely flattering comments about his artwork), he heard a shout of horror emanate from the kitchen, making him gulp and run toward the mentioned room. What he saw almost made him faint.

Arthur was kneeling on the floor, surrounded by all the other guests, who were staring his shock. The English student was gazing lovingly at none other than his own brother, who seemed to be regretting pulling a fast one over his brother. "Alfred, dear," purred Arthur. "I know that we are young, as you must love me~,"Alfred recoiled in disgust and hissed, "That's from Lady Gaga's song 'Alejandro', what the-" Arthur pulled out something from his pocket, hiccuping as it emerged. A cheap, plastic ring, the sort you'd find in a cereal box as a prize. "Will you marry me, love..?" Alfred gave out a cry halfway between a wail and a hiss. "Dude! That's disgusting!"

Arthur looked surprised for a few seconds and looked down at the ground. "But I...I thought...that you'd love me..." Alfred sighed. "I do love you, but, you know, as a brother! No homo, man.." He had slowly begun inching away from his brother, ready to make a run for it if necessary. Arthur didn't raise his head from its position toward the ground, but stood up. "Alfred!" he cried, reminding Kiku of a certain Russian's sister. "Our love is meant to be!" Alfred had begun running, and made for the back door, crying out, "You're drunk!"

A faint wail of 'And you're hot!' resounded through the night, ending Christmas on the most perfect note.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: I am so sorry about how long this chapter took! I was binge watching SNK while on vacation (with crappy internet) and couldn't update! Anyway, this is it, y'all! Bring on the AmeriPan! Thanks for the reviews, faves and follows!

Kiku's thin fingers twisted and turned the pencil in their grip. The student was glaring at a calendar in intense concentration, preparing for what would either be the greatest achievement of his life or the most foolish mistake he would ever make. He circled a box in the month of February, and tossed the pencil onto his bed. It was a Saturday, so at least one thing was going according to plan. Alfred lazed on his bed, chewing on a stick of Pocky, seemingly oblivious to what his roommate was doing. Ivan stepped out of the bathroom and ran a hand through his hair, messing it up. "What are you doing? It's all planned." he asked. Kiku nodded in understanding. "I know. We are going to die, Alfred-kun."

The American snapped his Pocky stick in half and sat up in annoyance. "Don't be ridiculous, this is going to be legend..wait for it...dary!" Kiku waited to see if sparkles would appear around his head. He was so enthusiastic about an extremely risky idea. But, it was his duty to be, considering he was the one who came up with it. Ivan, Alfred, Kiku, Matthew, Gilbert and Yao had decided (well, some thought of it, others were forced) to play matchmaker that Valentine's day and successfully convince Arthur and Francis, Ludwig and Feliciano, and Antonio and Lovino to go on dates. One observation Kiku made on the dot was that they all seemed very comfortable with the idea of two males being together (not that he wasn't; he spent a lot of time looking up yaoi) in a romantic relationship. Ivan was naturally a bit weirded out by the whole idea, but decided to just follow through with Gilbert and Alfred's *terrible* leadership.

Three different public venues in the campus had been cleared out for one night, leaving no one but the staff and a few customers, just so the whole thing doesn't become awkward. A restaurant, the fanciest in the academy for Francis and Arthur, a coffee shop for Ludwig and Feliciano, and the library for Antonio and Lovino. That was the best Gilbert and Alfred could get with a hell of a lot of socializing and convincing. But almost the entire student body was excited to see how this would turn out. Since they had amounted to what one would call 'fame' after not only Alfred's police-attracting party but also Arthur's incestuous antics, the names of Alfred F. Jones and Gilbert Beilschmidt would be repeated several times in an average conversation. The rest of the college was comparatively bland.

"So, tomorrow's the night," murmured Kiku to himself.  
Alfred gave him a questioning look. "Aren't you excited about this?"  
The Japanese student gave a half-hearted nod and mumbled, "I feel like it's going to go downhill.."  
Alfred got up from the bed and went over to inspect the calendar. In an oddly confident whisper, he quietly sang, "Don't stop believin'~"  
With a laugh, Kiku gave him a teasing punch (which probably didn't even hurt at all) and went over to grab a Pocky stick from the pack.

Ivan chuckled and muttered, "Why don't they just kiss already?" under his breath. Thankfully the other two didn't hear him. The Russian suspected that everyone in the dorm had something on their minds this February, some just decided to accept it sooner than others. For example, Alfred was being fairly chivalrous toward Kiku the whole month, Gilbert had been making excuses to study with Matthew, Antonio and Lovino talked to each other long into the night, and Francis and Arthur...let's just say they hadn't killed each other yet, which was more than a hint.

Tomorrow was the big night.

Kiku figured that if he spent too much time around Ivan, Alfred and the other students who were in on the plan, he'd go insane from a dangerous mix of excitement and apprehension. "I'm going downstairs, maybe for a walk," he announced as he reached for the doorknob. Alfred jumped up and straightened himself, before volunteering, "I'll go with you!" Kiku repressed the urge to groan. Today was not the day he was going to get even a little peace.

The two stepped out a few minutes later, instantly burying their faces in their scarves. Even though it was Feburary, and spring was right around the corner, the temperature wasn't providing much romance to the atmosphere. But anything could go well alongside candlelight, he guessed. At the moment, it would have been safer for both their moods to discuss something other than hooking people up. "So, have you got a date, Al-kun?"

The American was surprised for a second before smirking slyly. "From Alfred-kun, I'm promoted to Al-kun? Sugoi desu, ne?" He chuckled at his own accented pronunciation, which received a combination of eye-roll and laugh from Kiku.

"Stop with your butchering of my language, Al..."  
Alfred scoffed. "Oh, so you've dropped the -kun, now? I'm almost offended."  
"I'll call you Al-chan."  
"-chan?! I'm not seven years old!"  
"Forgive me for being so _blunt_, but you act like it. A lot."  
The blond turned away in mock anger, before blurting out, "You got a date?"  
Kiku's anger disappeared and he chuckled, "With the elaborate mess you've roped me into, I've barely had the opportunity to talk to anyone outside the dorm. I haven't got one. I do't even remember the last time I got a date for Valentine's Day."  
Alfred whistled and snickered, "I remember my last Valentine was in high-school. She was gorgeous, with long black hair and a super serious, badass face. We dated, until she totally kicked my ass a while later, because I was being 'overbearing'."  
"You do have a tendency to be like that, Al-kun."  
"Ah, the -kun's back."  
"Pay attention when I'm talking, will you?"  
"I am! I pay attention to the little things like the -kuns and -chans!" Kiku pushed him away playfully and tried to focus on something else.

Was it just him, or did Alfred look calmer and nicer that morning? Something about him was dripping of casualness and fun. His honeyed hair practically glowed in the sunlight, and made his eyes sparkle. He didn't even have time to wonder why he was thinking of his roommate in such poetic notes before completely losing his train of thought. Clearly, he must have been looking blank, which is why Alfred turning to him, only to stop in his tracks after seeing the Japanese student's dull state.

"You okay?" Alfred repeated the question a couple of times before Kiku blinked and gained a little control.  
"Hmm? Oh, hai, I'm fine.."He glanced up at the sky as to hide his embarrassment. Why did he have to stare?  
"You seemed kinda...out of it...were you thinking about something?"  
"You could say that."  
"What was it?"  
He stuck out his tongue. "None of your business."  
"Is it a project? Because I'm screwed, then."  
"Do not worry, it is not a project. Besides, why would you be doing an economics project anyway?"  
"Right."

The two walked about half a block wordless, before deciding to turn back and go to the dorm. The walk didn't prove to be a reliever at all. In fact, if Kiku was nervous before, he was mortified now.

* * *

The dorm was oddly silent once the two arrived. They removed their scarves and hats, only to see a bored Lovino watching television with murder in his eyes. Something clearly happened, because the rest of the students were nowhere to be seen. Alfred turned his head to get a good 360 degree view of the hall's corridor, to find a single sign of life. But there was none. "What's up? Where're all the others?" Lovino's hazel gaze landed on him, glaring at him in pure contempt. "Hiding in their rooms like the rats they are."

Kiku tilted his head slightly. Something serious must've happened if Lovino was the last one standing. Meanwhile, the Italian stared at the screen uninterested for a few minutes in eerie silence, before lunging at the remote and clutching it in a monstrous grip. He violently pressed the large red 'power' button, causing the TV to give out one more burst of sound before shutting off entirely. "Who do you assholes think you are?" he whispered.

Alfred was, by now, inching closer and closer to the door in the hope of successfully making it out of the situation alive. His Japanese roommate wasn't far behind, clutching at the American's sweater in fear, as Lovino got up from the sofa to confront the two using force. "Did you think you could just lay around with our lives and feelings?! I'll have you know that no amount of romantic dates will ever get me to even respect any of these bastards." Kiku bit his lip and let his line of sight drop to the floor. He should've anticipated that the secret would get out pretty soon. "Who told you?" he murmured, scared to raise his voice.

"That red-eyed jerk.." Lovino muttered what Alfred and Kiku assumed to be Italian curse words while balling his fists, causing his knuckles to turn red. Alfred grit his teeth. Gilbert should have never been trusted.

"Where is he?" he asked, his voice dangerously cool.  
"In his room, obviously."  
After a moment of terrifying silence, Alfred offered," Wanna help me beat the shit out of him?"  
Kiku's eyes widened and he took a single step back. "There's no need to resort to violence, Al-kun.."  
"Don't tell me he doesn't deserve it!"  
The brunet thought about it. Considering that the whole fiasco was Gil's idea to begin with, it was incredibly hypocritical of him to spill the beans. "Fine."

The three made for the room in double time, barely struggling to open up the doorknob to Yao, Matthew and Gil's room. A gust of warm wind hit their faces as the door sung open to reveal its three inhabitants huddled in a circle on the floor, heads bent and eyes wide. Matthew's loose curl of hair bobbed as he raised his head to notice his cousin's dramatic entrance. Yao glanced at the three before instantly averting his gaze, as though he had nothing to do with anything. Gilbert, on the other hand, scrambled toward his bed with a sheepishly hopeful grin on his face as Alfred closed in on him. "I can explain..."

Alfred looked absolutely murderous as he clutched Gilbert's hoodie. "It was supposed to be a secret, you piece of.." Kiku uttered a small squeak of nervousness as his roommate uttered some absolutely unforgivable words. "You don't deserve mercy..." he hissed. "Lovino, strap him to a chair!" The Italian grinned mirthlessly and hurried to his feet to try and pick up the German. Yao pulled out the desk chair in solemn silence. Gilbert landed on the plastic rather forcefully, causing him to blurt out, "Ouch!"

Alfred gestured for Matthew to come closer. "Bring your iPod." His cousin remained confused for a few seconds before shrugging and reaching for his bag. He pulled out the pure ivory device, and was just about to pull out the earphone when the American stopped him. "Put 'em in his ears," commanded Alfred. Gilbert had a perplexed expression on his face. "What's up with this?"

"Maybe we should tie him up, aru?" Yao suggested.  
"Nah, leave him to squirm."  
"Al, what's the meaning of all this?"  
"Matt, he told everyone about the date thing!"  
After a few seconds of bitter silence, Matthew muttered, "You useless person."  
This elicited a gasp from Alfred, who wasn't even used to seeing his cousin utter the word 'mean'.

"Damn, why do you still have 'Girlfriend' by Avril Lavigne on here?" Alfred chuckled as his cousin turned a violent shade of crimson. "It's a good song!" he declared. The American shot a half-concerned glance his way before faking a gag. "Nickelback and Justin Bieber? My oh my Matt..." Matthew turned away in mild annoyance and mumbled, "I find it better than Jason Derulo..." Gilbert interrupted them by asking, "How long am I going to be sitting here?"

Alfred picked a song on the playlist and looked up at Gilbert with satisfaction. "I hope you like 'As Long As You Love Me'...it's my preferred form of torture..." Gilbert's eyes widened and he let out a screech of horror, before resting back in his seat comfortably. "Not gonna work, Matt's already made me listen to it...it isn't that bad, if you forget every other song you've ever heard." The blond gulped. He didn't have a back up plan.

Lovino burst out laughing, so much so that he had to brace himself against the wall to keep his balance. Kiku let out a traitorous chuckle himself.  
"Al-chan, did you really think making him listen to a song was punishment?"  
"But...Justin...Bieber..."  
Lovino interjected, "Maybe it's not him that should be punished! After all, he told us! Aren't the ones who kept mum the guilty ones?"

Kiku's smile disappeared. Yao coughed and excused himself to go to the bathroom. Matthew immediately left to check out the post. Alfred clutched Kiku's arm protectively. "I'll fend them off, you run..." They reached for the door handle before Lovino muttered,"We aren't going to hurt you."

"Say what?"  
"Si, what's the point? Instead, we'll let you have a taste of your own medicine!"  
"Wait, what do you mean, Lovino-kun?"  
"I think it's obvious, morons. You both are going on a date."

Kiku could feel his legs slipping out from under him, even though they really hadn't. For some odd reason, he clung to Alfred for support. "Are they serious?" he whispered. "Dead serious," responded the blond. With a smirk, Lovi volunteered to cook.

Kiku and Alfred were ushered over to the dining room and made to sit next to each other while Yao and Matthew spread the word about their date. To nobody's surprise, Arthur was the first to the scene, clutching a video camera. Francis placed a deep scarlet tablecloth while Antonio placed candles. Ludwig and Feliciano set their plates with a knife and fork while Lovino cooked. All the time, Kiku and Alfred shared awkward glances with both of them blushing madly.

The food soon arrived, and made the Japanese student guilty that it wasn't under better circumstances. A large bowl of spaghetti doused in rich tomato meat sauce, straight out of Lady and the Tramp. Wait, didn't they share a kiss on a string of spaghetti?! Kiku clenched his fists and tapped his feet on the floor impatiently. This was too much for him to handle. In order to diffuse the atmosphere, Alfred began eating without a word, trying to focus on nothing but the food. Kiku followed suit, unable to breathe normally with all the eyes on him.

"It'd be nice to have a little space, you know," His words were barely understandable through Alfred's chewing. "Good pasta, by the way."  
"Oh, please, I'm not going to let this chance slide," Arthur held up the video camera and zoomed in on his brother's unflattering expression.  
"He's not talking complete nonsense..." Francis mused. "Let the lovers have some space!" He grabbed Arthur's arm forcefully and attempted to drag him away.  
"Francis, unhand me before you get hurt!"  
With a mildly nasal giggle, the French student used the benefit of being stronger to take Arthur away from the room. The other students, thankfully, had no grudge against the two, and elected to leave them in peace!  
"Au revoir! And we don't mind if you don't kiss and tell!" Francis winked at the two of them before shutting the door. Muffled words of anger could be heard from outside, but they soon died out.

Back to the awkwardness. With everyone gone, Kiku reassembled his broken courage and managed to chuckle.  
"They're an adamant bunch, aren't they?" he offered.  
Alfred twisted a few strings of pasta around his fork and smiled. "They're not gonna give up, that's for sure!"  
"Well, even if we didn't exactly get dates...we got dates.."  
"Yeah, it's so ironic! We were just talking about that!"  
"Sometimes I wonder if we aren't living in a novel, because things are going so well~"  
"Nah, we're too weird to be a novel. It's probably a fanfiction.."  
Kiku gulped. "Not many fanfictions end well..."  
"It's either character death or smut-oh." Alfred gnawed at the inside of his cheek. "I should shut up."  
No, you shouldn't." Kiku grinned.

Alfred could be a strong, determined, self-proclaimed hero. He had the killer looks and physique, and the morality. And then he'd say something he thought was socially appropriate, and it'd turn out that he was just a dork. An adorable one. This time, Kiku didn't even want to repress it. Maybe he had just the tiniest hint of a crush on his roommate that was growing every second in his presence. His gluttony and ego seemed as insignificant as ever.

The American's mind was also in 15 different directions. Kiku was as adorable as a bunny rabbit, it was true. He caught all of his bad references, and could completely understand Al's love for comics. Not to mention than he could be so badass and mature if he wanted to. Alfred was a hot-blooded American, and he got what he wanted. He mentally switched from dork mode to suave mode, hoping that cheesy pick -up lines would work.

"Wow, the candlelight makes everything look weird," commented Kiku in a seemingly nonchalant manner.  
Time to deploy the first flight. "Correction: The candlelight makes me look good."  
"Yes, that's why it's weird." Commander Alfred's aircraft has been shot down. Awaiting further orders.  
"Well, my dear, I'll have you know it's not the candlelight that's doing the trick."  
When had Alfred improved his flirting so much?! Kiku was going mad trying to think of a comeback to this one.

"So," the blond took the opportunity. "You did admit I look good~"  
Kiku should really have watched his words. "Uh…"  
"S'okay, you aren't the only one to fall prey to my charms."  
"I am."  
After a bit of consideration, he replied," Yeah, you are. Artie doesn't count, does he?"  
Kiku chuckled. "No, he was drunk."  
The large chunks of pasta had shrunk down to single strands. Putting one in his mouth, he took a long deep slurp, before realizing his lack of table manners. "Sorry!"  
"In Japan, it's considered polite to slurp, you know." He emphasized the point by doing it himself.  
Alfred stared at him in absolute shock before reaching for his hands with his own.  
"We're a match made in heaven, dude!"

Kiku considered recoiling for a millisecond, before doing the exact opposite. He leaned forward with firm determination. Their lips met, even though it wasn't intended. Alfred didn't move back either, and sunk into it slowly, before hearing a cheer outside the room. Those bastards hadn't left. Ignoring what was behind the door, he muttered, 'Did that just happen?" Kiku was breathing heavily and trying to get his thoughts straight. "I think so.." He let go of Alfred, trying to process his now shattered bubble of space. What had gotten into him? _No more personal space violations for a week, _he decided. He shook his head furiously, almost in denial, as the rest of the students poured in, in absolute delight.

"I knew you had to come out sooner or later, Al!" cried Matthew, giving his cousin a hug.  
"Congratulations, you both!" Ivan ruffled Alfred's hair. "Can I be your best man, Al?"  
"I'm Kiku's then, aru!" Yao was in absolute certainty.  
"Where did all the 'getting married' stuff come from, huh?!" Alfred was panicking.  
"Well, someone has to take responsibility for the kiss!" Arthur joked, knowing Kiku's ways.  
"How did you know we kissed?" Kiku fiddled with the loose threads of the tablecloth.  
"No one stays quiet for that long~" Francis looked like he had already planned their wedding.  
"It wasn't hard to guess!" Antonio patted Kiku on the back.  
"Ve~ I'm so happy! Lovino has great ideas sometimes!" Feliciano practically leaped on his brother.  
"What do you mean, 'sometimes'?!"  
"I'm finally out of that damn chair at least...awesomeness cannot be pinned down!"  
"Gil, they made you listen to that Canadian girl, ja?"

As conversations erupted all over the place, Kiku and Alfred glanced at each other, smiling. Valentine's Day hadn't even arrived yet.


End file.
